Recovery Exercise Options

46 year old male very active and fit all my life and had arrythmia since I was young with no noticeable issues until the last few years, now after a junctional block forever grateful to the medical professionals and technology giving me back my lifestyle with a PM 2 weeks ago.

For rehab (since 2nd day after surgery) I have been doing a mixture of hill/step walking, assault bike (just legs) and lower bodyweight workouts (squats/lunges etc) trying to minimise any upper body movement while I heal from surgery. My doctor has advised no swimming/surfing till after my 4 week check up, weights week 6 and running when I feel my body is ready. Based on what I have read in this forum best to leave running till after 3 weeks - all good.

What I couldnt find and would like to know from anyone's experience is what upper bodyweight exercises and/or stretching you did safely in weeks 3-6?

Any insights would be appreciated just wanting to build back up to 'normal' without being detrimental to the healing process. Thanks.

3 Comments

Welcome aboard!

by Lavender - 2023-11-29 08:33:58

Ahhh to be 46 again...  lol

Your youth and energy literally bust out of this post. The enthusiasm and positivity are absolutely magnetic. Lots of folks here are into body building and exercise of all kinds. Two weeks in and you're already at it and keeping buff!

Good for you for giving the upper body a rest. Your doc can give you appropriate guidelines for increasing activity. If you touch the menu on the upper right, it will drop down options on upper left. The last one looks like a magnifying glass-type in "exercise " or "weight lifting " something similar into the search button on the top left, you'll find tons of information. 💪🏼

Here's one I found:

https://www.pacemakerclub.com/message/40448/upper-body-exercises

Upper-Body, 3-6 Weeks - My Experience

by DoingMyBest - 2023-11-29 11:27:40

I'm not as fanatical about physical conditioning as you, but I'm serious about it and "Doing My Best."

I received my pacemaker implant August 23.

Up through 6 weeks I mostly followed the doctor's orders with regard to "keep your arm below your shoulder," "don't stretch behind your back," "keep the lifting light." I was enrolled in a 3-times a week rehab at 4 weeks post-surgery. I did participate in the weights and stretching, but started with limiting things with my left arm to keep safe - gentle stretching and using a lighter weight. Beyond 6 weeks I participated fully, with a normal weight and normal stretches.

After I said goodbye to the rehab (about 10-11 weeks post surgery), I resumed weights at the gym, working my way up gradually from 70% of my pre-surgery levels. I'm at 85% today, about 100 days post-surgery.

I didn't follow any specific plan, advice, or direction. I did some reading here and I used sense to apply the doctor's orders and push my self at a conservative rate to avoid trouble. This has worked for me. All is well and I've not caused myself any harm.

Good luck. Take it gently. I'm sure you'll be back at full strength before long.

Thanks

by Ness - 2023-11-29 15:03:51

Thanks for your responses.

The more information and experience shared the easier this is and yes the site search is much better than google was.

Appreciate it.

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