# Effectiveness of early walking training in patients after NSTEMI treated with angioplasty in the first stage of cardiac rehabilitation

## TL;DR

This study shows that early walking training after heart procedures improves patients' physical fitness as much as standard rehabilitation.

## Contribution

The novelty is demonstrating that early walking training can be as effective as standard cardiac rehabilitation in improving exercise tolerance.

## Key findings

- Early walking training significantly increased exercise tolerance in patients after NSTEMI and angioplasty.
- Improvements in walking distance, speed, and heart rate peak were much greater in the early walking group compared to standard rehab.
- Both groups showed improved fitness, but the early walking group had substantially larger gains.

## Abstract

The basic exercise after the patient's mobilization is walking, the effects of which are associated with numerous benefits both in terms of the patients’ physical and mental condition. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of earlier initiation of walking training in patients after coronary angioplasty in the first stage of cardiac rehabilitation.

50 patients after NSTEMI were examined. Based on the recruitment and after meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria, they were randomly assigned to two groups. The first group - clinical (n = 25) was subjected to 5-day rehabilitation consisting of 6 training units performed twice a day in a 30-meter corridor. The second group - control (n = 25), performed a standard cardiac rehabilitation program. Before starting and after completing training and rehabilitation, all patients underwent echocardiography to assess left ventricular functions (LVEF%, LVEDD, LVESD) and. 6-minute walk test to determine level of physical fitness.

After completing the 5-day walking training, a significant increase in exercise tolerance was observed in both the clinical and control groups. In the experimental group, a significant increase in exercise tolerance was observed (distance: +184.6 m, p < 0.001, d = 0.82, η2 = 0.316; walking speed: +1.84 m/s, p = 0.032, d = 0.74, η2 = 0.501; METs: +3.07, p = 0.001, d = 0.69, η2 = 0.342; HR peak: +20.68 bpm, p < 0.000, d = 0.816, η2 = 0.662). In the control group, the improvement was small (distance: +23.2 m, p = 0.044, d = 0.20, η2 = 0.112; HR peak: +6.36 bpm, p = 0.011, d = 0.228, η2 = 0.116).

Early walking training significantly affects the level of exercise tolerance, similarly to a standard rehabilitation program.