The Effects of Cardiac Rehabilitation Programme in Hypertensive Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

An individual program will be organized for each patient according to the exercise test result. Since the patients have both arthritis and HTN, aerobic exercises will be given at moderate intensity (40-60% VO2 reserve) according to ACMS recommendations. Xrcise Runner Med treadmill and Xrcise Care 2.5.8.3 software will be used for aerobic exercises. Resistant exercises will be given under the supervision of a physiotherapist, calculating 1 repetitation maximum (1-RM) in the main muscle groups.Patients will perform isotonic exercises with 3 sets of 15 repetitions with a resistance of 60% of 1-RM. The education sessions will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team of health professionals (nurse, physiotherapist and dietician) under the leadership of a clinician experienced in CR. Education topics will consist of 60-minute sessions covering heart-healthy eating, setting health-related goal, exercise, diet, healthy weight loss, smoking cessation, and stress/coping.