ObjectiveTo assess whether adding bedside cycling to inpatient cardiac rehabilitation (CR) early after heart valve surgery could lead to better physical function and shorter length of hospital stays. DesignThis is a single-centered, randomized, controlled, parallel-group intervention study. SettingsThis study was conducted at the National Heart Institute from December 2022 to June 2023. ParticipantsThirty-one patients following heart valve surgery completed this study after being randomized into 2 groups: an intervention group (n1=16) and an active control group (n2=15). Eligibility criteria were heart valve surgery with median sternotomy, clinical stability, and age from 20 to 40 years. InterventionsThe intervention group received early bedside cycling for the lower limbs, using a mini bike, in addition to an inpatient CR program, and the control group received the inpatient CR program alone. Main Outcome MeasureThe primary outcome was the physical functional capacity assessed by the 6-minute walk distance (6MWD). The secondary outcomes were the Barthel Index (BI), the forced vital capacity (FVC), the length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, the total length of hospital stay, and the physical component summary (PCS) of the 12-item Short Form (SF-12) Health Survey. ResultsCompared with the control group, the intervention group showed significantly greater 6MWD (P<.001), BI score (P<.001), and FVC (P=.006) at hospital discharge, and shorter ICU stay (P=.002) and total hospital stay (P=.015). At 1-month follow-up, the intervention group showed a non-significantly higher PCS mean score than the control group (P=.057). ConclusionAdding early bedside cycling to a usual inpatient CR program after heart valve surgery could induce significantly greater short-term physical functional capacity as assessed by the 6MWD, better activities of daily living as evaluated by the BI, higher pulmonary function as measured by the FVC, and shorter lengths of ICU and total hospital stays than the usual inpatient CR program alone.