Impact of early balance training on recovering following coronary artery bypass grafting. A randomized trial

Objective To investigate the effect of early balance training combined with traditional Phase I cardiac rehabilitation (based on circulatory, respiratory and progressive aerobic exercises) compared to Phase I cardiac rehabilitation alone, on balance, functional capacity, quality of life, length of hospital stay and adverse events in patients post coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Design Randomized controlled trial. Setting Cardiothoracic surgery departments from the Cairo University Hospitals. Participants Adults (≥55 years) undergoing coronary artery bypass graft were randomly allocated to either an early balance training plus Phase I cardiac rehabilitation group or a Phase I cardiac rehabilitation alone group. Both groups commenced within 48 hours postoperatively and performed 30 minutes of moderate-intensity Phase I cardiac rehabilitation, thrice daily for 7 days. The cardiac rehabilitation Balance group performed an additional 5 minutes of balance training each session. Main measures Balance (Berg Balance Scale), functional capacity (5-Repetition-Sit-to-Stand test), quality of life (Short Form-36 Health Survey Questionnaire), length of hospital stay (number of days hospitalized) and adverse events were evaluated. Results Sixty coronary artery bypass graft patients completed the study. When compared to cardiac rehabilitation Alone group, the cardiac rehabilitation balance group significantly improved balance (39.77 ± 4.73 vs 34.03 ± 4.94, respectively, P < .001) functional capacity (11.93 ± 1.70 vs 15.97 ± 2.01, respectively, P < .001), quality of life (71.87 ± 3.21 vs 66.17 ± 2.94, respectively, P < .001) and hospital length stay (11.47 ± 1.22 vs 14.93 ± 1.36, respectively, P < .01). Additionally, both groups showed significant improvements in balance, functional capacity and quality of life. No adverse events were registered in any of the groups. Conclusions Phase I cardiac rehabilitation plus early balance training improves balance, functional capacity, quality of life, and decreases length of hospital stay beyond that of Phase I cardiac rehabilitation alone, without an increase in adverse events. Institutional Research Committee No: P.T.REC/012/004372 Registration clinicaltrails.gov NCT06490458).