Effectiveness of incremental aerobic exercise program in patients with myocardial infarction using 6-min walk test

Abstract

Background: Myocardial infarction (MI), which is also called as heart attack, happens as a phenomenon due to reduced or no blood supply to a certain part of heart, leading to damaging heart musculature. Aims and Objectives: To investigate the efficacy of aerobic exercise training in Phase II rehabilitation program of myocardial infarction (MI) patients, 40 MI subjects were randomly selected (n = 40), age ranging from 50 to 70 years. Materials and Methods: The subjects were prescribed an incremental aerobic exercise training program to be performed for 6 weeks with initial intensity on 50% maximum heart rate (HRmax); then, in Group B, we have asked the subjects to perform on 55% HRmax, then on 60% HRmax, and up to 75% of HRmax; then, at the end of 6 weeks, we have recorded the parameters again. Results: The data obtained were then analyzed using related t-test, and the results were found to be statistically significant (t = 0.300, P < 0.01). Conclusion: The study shows that incremental aerobic exercise can significantly improve the performance of MI subjects in 6-min walk test distance.