Resistance Exercise as a Safe Modality for Quality of Life Improvement in Patients with Coronary Artery Diseases: A Review.

Abstract

Individuals with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) tend to have decreasing cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), muscle strength, and quality of life (QoL). Because of its multiple benefits, participation in an exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program was highly recommended for CVD patients. Currently, there is a trend of increasing the use of resistance exercises (RE) in CR and treatment of CVD, including coronary artery disease (CAD), peripheral arterial disease, and stroke. The application of RE in CVD patients also raises concerns for physicians due to adverse events related to cardiovascular responses. Therefore, this review aimed to explore the effect of RE on cardiovascular responses, cardiovascular risk factors, muscle strength, CRF, and the QoL, including its safety in CAD patients. Articles published in the last ten years were searched using PubMed, Science Direct, Research Gate, and Google Scholar databases using relevant keywords. Studies found that the administration of RE in CAD patients was proven safe when prescribed properly. Some literature showed that RE affected CVD risk factors by improving blood pressure, blood sugar, lipid profile, and body composition. In addition, systemic vascular resistance change led to vasodilatation and reduced blood pressure. Fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction and mortality also decreased after progressive RE. High-intensity RE was proven to be better at increasing muscle strength compared to low-intensity because it produced a greater increase in the number of myofibrils and neural adaptation. Subsequently, aerobic exercise (AE) combined with RE caused a better increase in CRF. An increase in muscle strength and CRF, as well as diminished symptoms and controlled risk factors obtained from RE administration, increased QoL. To conclude, RE was a safe modality for QoL improvement in CAD patients through controlling risk factors and improving muscle strength and CRF.