Effects of exercise on physical and psychological preparedness of chronic heart disease patients for work: a review

Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) is defined as the process by which patients with chronic heart disease (CHD) are restored to their optimal physical, mental, medical, psychological, social, emotional, sexual, vocational and economic status (Erb et al., 1979). Thus cardiac rehabilitation is multidisciplinary, involving medicine, psychology, surgery, physiology, vocational rehabilitation and engineering. The goals of a typical cardiac rehabilitation program are as follows (Parmley, 1986):

1 Return the individual suffering from CHD to optimal physiological and psychological function.