Presented by Danielle Lawrence, HBSc, MPH, PhD/MScOT(c); Barbara Cifra, MD.

Description: Adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) are a growing population who often experience reduced exercise capacity, functional limitations, and multimorbidity. Although exercise is recommended, many patients receive generic or no exercise guidance and remain underrepresented in traditional cardiac rehabilitation programs. This 60-minute webinar will outline a scalable lifestyle medicine approach to rehabilitation for this population. Using the University Health Network ACHD Lifestyle Medicine Program as a case example, the session will review the program structure and the clinical rationale for integrating exercise, principles for prescribing aerobic and resistance exercise, and strategies to scale exercise across varying levels of function and resources. By the end of the session, participants will have tools to safely incorporate aerobic and resistance training for adults with congenital heart disease into their own programs. 

Learning Objectives:  

1. Describe the clinical rationale for integrating aerobic and resistance training into the routine management of adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) within cardiac rehabilitation and lifestyle medicine programs. 
2. Identify key components of a structured ACHD exercise prescription model, including assessment, safety considerations, and strategies for progressing aerobic and resistance training in on-site and virtual settings. 
3. Apply principles from a scalable ACHD lifestyle medicine program to design or adapt individualized exercise prescriptions for adults with congenital heart disease within their own cardiopulmonary setting.