Exercise U-turn for heart surgery patients in Southampton

Until now patients waiting for heart surgery have been told to avoid exercise. But Graeme Harrison is part of a new study in Southampton testing whether exercise before surgery can actually help patients recover faster. He has a condition called aortic stenosis which means his heart does not pump enough blood around his body. This leads to fatigue and breathlessness, he is waiting for an operation to give him an artificial aortic valve. Every week he comes to University Hospital Southampton and gets on an exercise bike. "When I go to bed and I walk upstairs to clean my teeth, I have to have a sit down for five minutes before I have sufficient energy to stand at the sink and clean my teeth," he said. While wearing electrodes he is taking part in monitored exercise – something heart patients have until now been told to avoid. The CardioFit trial is delivered through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Southampton Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and supported by the Heartbeat charity. Patients with cancer are already routinely offered what is called "prehabilitation" as part of a UK-first NHS service at University Hospital Southampton. Its success has led the