Introduction: Myocardial infarction represents a ma-jor health problem being the main cause of mortality and morbidity in developed countries. An acute myo-cardial infarction is a life threatening condition and often causes impairment of quality of life for the pati-ents and for the family. According to European Society of Cardiology’s guidelines, after myocardial infarction, a patient receive an optimal medical treatment. For secondary prevention is very important to educate the patient and promote adherence to drug therapy and life changes. Also the social reintegration, regain the phy-sical capacity and return at work as soon as possible are very important for limitation of illness anxiety and reduce the risk of death or recurrence of the cardiac event.
Methods: Cardiac rehabilitation has been defined by the World Health Organization as: „the sum of activiti-es required to influence favorably the underlying cause of the disease, as well as to ensure that patients\’ best possible physical, mental and social conditions so that they may, by their own efforts, preserve or resume a place as normal as possible in theier community.
Results: Cardiac rehabilitation has three steps. The first step occurs in the first 14 days and it is represented by early mobilization monitored by a specialized person. After that, for 1-2 weeks the patient starts recovering the physical capacity by gradual exercises. Also he le-arns how to accept the disease and the importance of life style changes and of medical treatment. The last phase lasts for 6-12 months for fully recovery.
Conclusions: Cardiac rehabilitation is essential for ful-ly recovery of post myocardial infarction patient and for prevention of recurrence of the cardiac event.