Safety and efficacy of early supervised mobilization after recent decompensation of heart failure

Heart failure is a complex clinical syndrome in which structural or functional cardiac disorders result in an impaired cardiac function causing symptoms that vary according to the underlying pathology of heart failure. Patients with heart failure are often challenged by the loss of independence and compromised functional abilities associated with the symptoms. This is why comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation including supervised exercise is advised. Indeed, the favorable effects of exercise training in chronic heart failure are widely recognized and exercise training is recommended in international guidelines. However, the application early exercise intervention in patients hospitalized for acute decompensation or acute worsening in cardiac function has not been sufficiently explored and, as a result, knowledge about the effects of exercise training in the inpatient setting of acute HF remained limited regardless of the research efforts made in this area. For this reason, this work aimed at reviewing and collecting previous literature to support the effectiveness and the safety of early mobilization in this patient group.