Well, I thought I was all sorted on the rehab front but no...!
(Background - I'm 58, was healthy and active, HA 10/12/20, double bypass 8/1/21 - completely out of the blue. I'm currently walking 3 or 4 miles a day, which is great, but realise I need help to start getting my upper body / chest back to normal strength)
I had my rehab assessment phone call last week which was useful and encouraging. However, it turns out the promised online programme due to start next week is now not expected till April. My rehab nurse told me about an app called mymhealth which she said had exercise programmes on it. She sent me the log in, I've had a look and it's got lots of functions that may be useful but no exercise programmes. I contacted the app developers and they told me that exercises are only available for the first two weeks and then they disappear (so they must be very early exercises, not ones suitable for the post-6 weeks patient...)
I am beyond disappointed, and will have to rely on the BHF videos (on YouTube which I haven't looked at yet). If anyone knows of anything that might be useful, please let me know ...
I can't wait till April in the hope this online course actually runs then, and I don't want to risk doing the wrong thing...🤯
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Brixcos
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Welcome to the forum, after open heart surgery we are told no arms above our heads no pulling or pushing movements and no lifting anything heavier than half a kettle of water for 8-10 weeks to give our sternum chance to heal. You are doing really well with your walking, when I did cardio rehab it was all about building our stamina back, and that didn’t start until 8 weeks after surgery and being discharged from my surgeon, back to the cardiologist.
Hope your journey on the mended heart road continues really well.
Hello Brixcos. I think you might try to continue existing exercises for a bit longer.Your walking is brilliant. I can only manage a mile.
I hit the same issue as you. At first i was told i could get rehab. But a bit later, as the local cardio departments were closed when i had my life saving op. The rehab never materialized.
I would pay for my own rehab, but covid will delay that.
We can really only try to keep ourselves fit best we can. Carefully.
Walking so far is absolutely amazing so soon after surgery. Think you have to go easy on your top half for a while, just super gentle and no lifting. In French rehab (where I am) after a month we did very gentle bottom-half focused stretching, standing on toes, squats, very gentle widening of arms shoulder height only and machine walking and cycling.
HiI underwent OHS last summer for AVR - no rehab classes on-line or Face to face due to C-19.
After 6 weeks I started the BHF videos - I did those and walked as much as I could fit in around family and work (desk at home) . as Pauline says, you need to be careful of your sternum, which is where any weight/strain placed on your arms is anchored. If it hurts - stop and wait a week before repeating.
The BHF videos worked fine for me - 56 y-o, reasonable active, no other health conditions. As long as your BP is within normal range and your heart rate stays steady and not mad high (check with your re-hab nurse) they'll do fine (if a bit tedious after a few repetitions)
Thanks so much for the replies, it sounds like a) I might be being a bit previous with my expectations (which is one reason why I need professional help!!) and b) there is no professional help at the moment so I'll have to be creative with the BHF exercises - and keep walking walking walking! I'm going to focus on flexibility once I reach 6 weeks post op (in 8 days) and see how I go from there.... 🤔🤞
I had open heart surgery 3 years ago but just got 1 phone call and nothing else as short staffed. Devised my own workout and went back to work after 9 weeks. Everyone is different and should work to their own ability and not rush it. Good luck!
The NHS rehab was pretty much based on the BHF videos so I used to do those at home in between the weekly rehab session. I found the sessions good for chatting to people but the exercise was pretty basic so did my own thing too- walking etc. Good luck
East Cheshire NHS trust post cardio workout on utube I think is great . Especially for shoulders . I have been doing the exercises for months after my triple bypass last year. They carefully bring you into the exercises and the leg stretches are so good for the heart
Lots of good advice here Brixcos - be patient and don't rush it. Mix walking with cycling and consider getting a heart monitor. Use with Strava or other app to track your progress - as 60 year old I was sceptical about the tech, but it really can help with motivation.
I was blessed by having video and later in person rehab from Harefield. Be very careful of your sternum area. Bit early for upper body I think. Keep up walking for now. Have a look at the BHF videos. I sometimes do the level 5 ones. Start small.
Here is a link that maybe of interest based here in Ireland but online since covid. Karen is excellent I did two courses with her after my heart events.
My own advice based on personal experience and not any medical knowledge. You are still very early into your rehab. I feel that walking is by far the best start to regaining your fitness. Start with increases in distance and/or times of the walks. Perhaps then start increasing the difficulty of the walk starting with gentle hills (if you can). Without the benefit of the personal attendance at cardiac rehab facilities I personally would bide my time with upper body/strength work until at least 12 weeks. Remember there is no rush. The BHF a videos are very good. It will help greatly if you have a facility for monitoring your heart rate and blood pressure. Your cardiac rehab team should be able to provide you with heart rates zones for when you are exercising depending on the type of medication you are on. Above all take it slow and easy and listen to your body, if tired just rest, or miss a day. I remember when I starred the rehab videos thinking how ridiculously easy they looked, but then I had forgotten the major trauma my body had undergone during the OHS. Good luck with your progress.
So grateful to you all for your replies. I am sitting at my PC compiling a "low-level lower body" programme to do, based on your advice, between now and when my upper body should be healed. Which should be 19 March, so there's no hurry, and the cardio team's revised programme starting date of April doesn't sound so out-of-step now! I feel so much better about it all now 😊. Phew!
Don't forget your chest is held together with staples and requires time to heal. The exercises that stand out in my memory are:
sit to stand 15 times., 3 sets
step up one step and down again, 15 times, no rush, 3 sets.
Having said that I couldn't wait to get walking, very slowly and gently , to start with, along a flat path with my phone in my pocket, gradually extending my range as I went. Nice and easy does it.
I just want to add that I recently completed my remote cardio rehab course (which started over a year after my heart attack due to pandemic delays) and the mymhealth app was the app used to deliver the videos (for 6 weeks).
The exercises were not easy ones. I’m younger than you and before my HA I used to row
13k a session. I got a sweat on from the first rehab session, but did end up being mostly at the highest level of exercises by the end of the course (there are 3 levels).
It may be that your local NHS hasn’t got an account with mymhealth setup yet.
I think it’s early days since your operation so would want to make sure you are guided as to what you can do and when by a trained healthcare professional.
The exercises ranged from squats and leg-raisies to light-weight bicep curls and wall press-ups etc.
I’m now back to using my rowing machine at home, I can now do 6k in one session - so I have got back to less than half what I used to do and I’m not sure if I will be able to increase beyond this without casuing myself problems.
The main thing I learnt was how far to push my heart-rate, if I go too high with my heart rate then I have heart pain the following day - so the course helped me work out what to aim for.
My recommendation is to take it slowly guided by a professional - wait until April it’s only 2 months away.
Thanks for replying, Alder42. From what I now understand, I will be able to see the exercise programme once I reach 6 weeks post op. (The my mhealth response wasn't very clear 🙄). I've just started doing the my mhealth flexibility exercises (which they advise you start two days after surgery!) and they feel quite enough for now tbh, together with my daily walk. I have completely reset my expectations as a result of everyone's posts here, and am more than happy to wait to be guided by a professional. Good luck with the rowing, at the moment I can't imagine being able to do that!!
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