**Foreword**

Cardiac rehabilitation is a rapidly evolving branch of rehabilitation medicine that seeks to optimize physical function in patients with cardiac diseases or recent cardiac surgeries. It has a robust impact on improving quality of life, reducing admissions, and enhancing favorable cardiovascular outcomes; it has therefore gained recognition as an important recommendation in all cardiovascular guidelines.

This book aims to fill the void that exists regarding the cognitive and technical knowledge of cardiac rehabilitation, with only relatively few books examining the technical and practical scope and scale of this evolving field. The target readership encompasses rehabilitation physicians, technicians, and nurses, in addition to all cardiologists and cardiac fellows, and aims to meet, at least partially, the growing demands of such practitioners to establish rehabilitation laboratories and initiate cardiac rehabilitation programs.

The book is the product of a collaborative effort by a dedicated team of cardiologists whose specialties span the entire field of cardiology, offering a practical approach to exercise prescription in cardiac rehabilitation in line with American and European guidelines and inspired by local experience. It details the technical aspects of different modalities of exercise for a broad spectrum of cardiovascular conditions and patient groups and provides strategies to overcome existing barriers to physical activity in the local population. The book consists of eight chapters that are arranged to take the reader from the basic aspects to the more complex ones, spanning the broad range of technical intricacies required to fulfill the practical requirements of cardiac rehabilitation. It describes the basics of rehabilitation, functional assessment, early mobilization, supervised and long-term exercise protocols, cardiac rehabilitation in specific groups, program management, and, finally, special considerations for Middle Eastern and Saudi Arabian populations.

> Ahmed AlAmry Director General, Medical Services Directorate, Ministry of Defense, Saudi Arabia
