A periodized model for exercise improves the intra-hospital evolution of patients after myocardial revascularization: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To compare models of the postoperative hospital treatment phase after myocardial revascularization.

Design: A pilot randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Hospital patients in a hospital setting.

Phase I of cardiac rehabilitation: A new challenge for evidence based physiotherapy.

Cardiac rehabilitation protocols applied during the in-hospital phase (phase I) are subjective and their results are contested when evaluated considering what should be the three basic principles of exercise prescription: specificity, overload and reversibility. In this review, we focus on the problems associated with the models of exercise prescription applied at this early stage in-hospital and adopted today, especially the lack of clinical studies demonstrating its effectiveness. Moreover, we present the concept of "periodization" as a useful tool in the search for better results.