Exercise prescription and evaluation in patients with chronic heart failure

Training is prescribed by the mode or type of exercise, frequency of partic ipation, duration and intensity. Low intensive workloads of long duration o r repetitive bouts of high intensive short duration exercise have been an e ffective tool to enhance exercise capacity in CHF patients. Most studies ha ve used moderate training intensities between 50 and 75 % of peak oxygen up take during 60 to 90 minutes of net exercise time per meek. Heart rate, lac tate, and rating of perceived exertion serve as measures for determination of training intensity. However, reliability and validity of given methods f or monitoring may be reduced because of impairment of exercise response cha racteristic for CHF. Adequate exercise training programs and their evaluati on should contribute to both, favorable metabolic changes and positive effe cts on the economy of motion. More studies are needed to elucidate the mech anisms involved in exercise induced adaptations in CHF patients and to eval uate the utility of given training programs associated with beneficial effe cts on exercise capacity, quality of life and prognosis.