Guidelines on the practice of physical exercises at home for patients with heart disease in social isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic

experience report

Abstract

Cardiac patients participating in cardiovascular rehabilitation programs (CVR) benefit from a reduction in global cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and in the hospitalization rate, in addition to a gain in quality of life. In March 2020, the WHO declared a pandemic of a new coronavirus (Sars-Cov-2) – and social isolation was adopted as necessary to contain its spread. For this reason, the period of isolation implies changes in lifestyle, as it becomes unfeasible to go to places such as parks and outpatient CVR programs, favoring physical inactivity and mainly affecting those who are parte of the risk group of Covid-19: elderly, chronically ill, immunosuppressed, and cardiac patients and also those with cardiovascular risk factors. Exercising can alleviate the consequences in the pandemic, alleviating depressive feelings or stress due to isolation. The consequent suspension of in-person CVR care and understanding the damages related to physical inactivity, it was necessary to guide safe physical exercises according to updated literature, aiming to maintain daily physical activity for these patients. Therefore, the objective of this project was to develop self-explanatory booklets on the practice of physical exercise in an oriented and safe way for patients with heart disease, respecting the recommendations to maintain social isolation.