Golf in the rehabilitation of cardiac patients

For many cardiac patients recommendations concerning their physical activities exclude sports like tennis, soccer, swimming, and others. Golf may present an alternative since the small amount of data that exist for healthy sportsmen may expect golf to be suitable for the majority of cardiac patients. This study assessed the cardiocirculatory load of cardiac patients during phase-II rehabilitation who practiced for 30 minutes on the driving range and putting green, respectively The heart rate of 82.9 +/- 13.1 bpm corresponded to 0.3 +/- 0.3 W/kg bodyweight (approximate to 1.4 METs) and the serum lactate of 2.22 +/- 0.77 mmol/l to 0.8 +/- 0.2 W/kg bodyweight (approximate to 4 METs). Thus, teaching golf to the vast majority of cardiac patients during phase-II rehabilitation seems possible.