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The effectiveness of physical therapy management after cardiac surgery.
This paper reviews the clinical trial literature evaluating the efficacy of physiotherapy management following heart surgery. MEDLINE, CINAHL, Pubmed, and Cochrane databases were searched for studies published in English between 1983 and 1999. Studies were selected if they were randomized control trials which examined adult patients after any cardiac surgery except heart transplant. The selection yielded 17 studies which evaluated various physiotherapy protocols including routine treatment (early mobilization, coughing and breathing exercises), intensive treatment (similar to the routine one except for being performed twice as frequently), and routine treatment with additional uses of TENS, incentive spirometer, or masks (CPAP, PEP). Results showed that neither intensive physiotherapy nor the additional uses of TENS, incentive spirometer, or masks were significantly better than routine physiotherapy in improving patients’ postoperative outcomes. This review revealed that routine treatment, the most economical protocol, is as effective as any other treatment protocols in managing cardiac surgery patients.