Specificity of Training for the Industrial Athlete in a Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Setting

Presented by AACVPR 2009 Innovation Award Winners, 
 Danielle Strauss and Jenny Adams 
Baylor Heart & Vascular Institute 
Dallas, Texas

June 24, 2010
Attendees earn 1.0 AACVPR Continuing Education Credit

Today, a patient who has experienced a heart attack or other cardiac event is as likely to be a 38 year old as a 75 year old retiree. Because of these changing demographics, patients who seek cardiac rehabilitation have an increasing range of lifestyles and activity levels that have not been previously addressed. To meet these challenges, Baylor Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital has designed a “Specificity of Training Approach” which will be highlighted during the Webcast.

The main goal of cardiac rehabilitation is to assist patients in developing a healthy lifestyle plan. Beyond that, it should help patients return to the level of activity they previously enjoyed, based on clearance from their physician. Because a generic program is not effective for every patient, Baylor's Return to Work Lab  focuses on specificity of training. Just as athletes must train specific muscle fibers for particular sports, cardiac rehabilitation patients must exercise or train in a way that benefits their particular job and activity level. The Return to Work Lab has with a variety of equipment that allows the cardiac rehabilitation team to design a program to meet individual patient goals. Each patient describes his or her job or other activities and the team sets up a training program that mimics the physical demands as closely as possible.

For example:

• A maintenance or warehouse worker lifts and carries boxes with weights.
• A landscaper pushes a weighted mower or uses a shovel to move rocks.
• Police officers kick, strike and handcuff life-size training dummies.
• A firefighter carries heavy hoses up flights of stairs.
• Housekeeping activities are simulated via weights placed around the bottom of a vacuum cleaner.

Upon completion of this Webcast, the participants will be able to:

• Identify the history of traditional Cardiac Rehabilitation guidelines.
• Understand Baylor patient case studies involving erroneous exercise prescription.
• Identify the benefits of integrating a Return to Work Lab into a traditional Cardiac Rehabilitation Program.
• Identify $500 and $1,000 budgets that will allow purchase of Return to Work Lab Equipment.