Exercise

After transplant surgery, exercise is critical to mental health and physical well-being. Physical activity is also very important in helping decrease the effects of prednisone, which causes muscle weakness.

A daily exercise routine is essential to avoiding the muscle and total-body weakness that often occurs after a long illness or period of confinement. The program should be a progressive one in which the patient builds or increases his levels of exercise. In this way, he will obtain the full benefits of exercise without causing strain or serious injury to his body. Before starting on any exercise program, he should remember to check with his transplant team. They will give him advise regarding an exercise routine that will best meet his needs.

WARNING: If a patient experiences any of the following symptoms, he should stop or delay exercise until he consults his physician:

• pain or pressure in the chest, neck, or jaw
• excessive fatigue that is not related to lack of sleep
• unusual shortness of breath
• dizziness or light-headedness during or after exercise
• persistent rapid or irregular heart rate, new since the transplant, during or after exercise.