Program for cardiac patients: stress testing and training.

Abstract

Dynamic exercise stress testing had become a widely accepted technique in the diagnosis of cardiac patients. The results of standardized exercise testing may be used to evaluate a patient's functional capacity and to derive an exercise prescription to assist him in improving his state of cardiovascular fitness. Because the physical therapist has special training and skill in exercise-related techniques, a stress testing laboratory and an exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program may be appropriately established in a hospital's physical therapy department. Results are presented of a diagnostic exercise testing and an exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program organized and supervised by physical therapists in a 300-bed private hospital.