Impact of cardiac rehabilitation and exercise training programs in coronary heart disease.

Cardiovascular rehabilitation (CR) is the process of developing and maintaining an optimal level of physical, social, and psychological well-being in order to promote recovery from cardiovascular (CV) illness. It is a multi-disciplinary approach encompassing supervised exercise training, patient counseling, education and nutritional guidance that may also enhance quality of life. Beneficial CV effects may include improving coronary heart disease risk factors; particularly exercise capacity, reversing cardiac remodeling, and favorably modifying metabolism and systemic oxygen transport. We review the historical basis for contemporary CR, the indications and critical components of CR, as well as the potential salutary physiological and clinical effects of exercise-based CR.