Insufficient control of exercise intensity by heart rate monitoring in cardiac patients

Objectives: To test the reliability of heart rate (HR) recommendations for cardiac rehabilitation training obtained from different treadmill tests. Background: For training in cardiac rehabilitation, HR recommendations are derived from cardio-pulmonary tests. Exercise intensity is often controlled through self-monitoring HR by the cardiac patients. Design: Non-randomized clinical trial. Methods: 25 patients of a cardiac sports group (six women, 19 men, age 68.3 ± 5 years, height 171 ± 10 cm, weight 82 ± 12.8 kg) performed a stepwise increasing treadmill test according to a modified Stanford protocol (S) and a ramp treadmill test according to the Balke–Ware protocol (B) until volitional exhaustion. In 16 patients, HR was assessed with a HR monitor and compared with HR obtained by self-monitoring through pulse palpation during three training sessions. Results: Similar peak cardiopulmonary responses were obtained with the two exercise protocols of significantly (p