ABSTRACT
Because diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for coronary heart disease, cardiac rehabilitation programs will see a disproportionate number of patients with diabetes compared with the general population. The philosophy of exercise for the diabetic patient should be to include all the types of exercise available to the patient without diabetes. This philosophy should be superseded only when such a policy would increase the risk of injury or harm to a specific individual. This requires evaluating each patient with diabetes for the level and stability of glucose control, the agents used to achieve this, and for the presence of diabetic complications.
