Exercising and sports
Advances in the knowledge, diagnosis and treatment of heart problems from birth (congenital heart defects) has led, in recent decades, to an improvement in the physical condition of people with congenital heart defects, allowing them to perform more amount and intensity of physical activity than in the past, including participation in sports activities.
Ordinary physical activity: is that produced by any movement of muscle groups during normal life (for example, climbing stairs at school).
Physical exercise: all physical activity with repetitive nature regulated to improve or maintain good physical shape. It is always advisable, but it must be individualized in some patients.
Sport: it is a competitive physical exercise. It is an added burden to the body due to its possible stressful nature and the risk of ignoring dangerous symptoms such as dyspnea or pain.
Parents of children, adolescents, and adults with congenital heart defects need to know what kinds of recreational activities or sports they can do within reliable safety margins, based on the heart disease they have or had (in the case of that were already operated)?
Although it is a difficult question to answer due to the difficulties in quantifying the effort of the heart during exercise, which depends on the one hand on the type of sport or recreational activity, and on the other hand on the congenital heart disease in question.
For this, it is necessary to focus on the three successive aspects, in order to finally be able to provide an adequate recommendation:
- Complete assessment of the cardiovascular situation.
- Classification of sports and recreational activities in levels of difficulty.
