By Serena Agusto-Cox | News & Views

For cardiovascular rehabilitation (CR) patients, the journey to healthy living includes daily monitoring and exercise; but rehab can be engaging, competitive, and fun. Every three years, CR patients come together to compete in the World Heart Games, supported by AACVPR, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and the Georgia Heart Institute. The games were modeled on the 1990 Heart of Gold Games, sponsored by the Georgia Association of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation. In 2003, AACVPR created the International Heart & Lung Games, which became the ACSM World Heart Games in 2010 and are now held every three years in a different location.

Teams from across the United States take part in sports ranging from beanbag toss/cornhole to volleyball and pickleball; and individuals can participate in basketball shooting, bowling, soccer shootouts, and other activities. This year’s World Heart Games will be held June 20-21 at Piedmont University and Tallulah Falls School in Habersham County, Georgia. Adults aged 25 and older who have experienced a cardiopulmonary event or live with cardiac risk factors are eligible to participate as individuals or on a team. Doctors and nurses are available to monitor participants engaged in competition to make sure no medical issues arise. But like the Olympians before them, CR patients train together and gel as teammates with common goals: staying healthy and winning a gold medal.

Cardiovascular Fitness Is More Than Recovery

Each CR patient knows that staying healthy can require lifestyle adjustments, which is why the motto of the World Heart Games is Sapientior, Fortius, Sanior (Latin for wiser, stronger, healthier). F. Stuart Sanders, MD, FACP, MAACVPR, FACSM, chair of the 2025 World Heart Games committee, says, “Participants compete in a safe environment over two days, and the CR staff get to share in those special moments. The competition builds camaraderie among patients and staff, and it demonstrates just how much healthier each patient has become since they began their CR journey.”

Whether participants take home a bronze, silver, or gold medal in their events, they win the top prize for changing the trajectory of their own health and longevity. Dr. Sanders recalls one CR patient who has participated in the games on the Habersham Medical Center Cardiac Rehab volleyball team since his heart attack at age 55. Dr. Sanders says, “He said, ‘you told me that if I listen to you and follow the lifestyle taught at cardiac rehab that I would live to be an old man. I did and I have!’” Now, at age 90, he plans to participate in the 2025 World Heart Games (having competed in the 2003 and 2006 AACVPR International Heart & Lung Games and four of the previous World Heart Games).

CR builds up patients and helps them regain control over their own health. “The Games have a lot of great moments. When people are laughing so hard they are tearing up, you know those are the memories that will last,” Dr. Sanders adds. “One pulmonary rehabilitation patient was so proud of his efforts that he made sure to be buried with his medals from the International Heart & Lung Games.” CR patients who participate “train harder and are a little bit better about attending their CR because they have something to work toward,” he explains.

For CR programs, Dr. Sanders suggests that sending teams can showcase their own success stories and inspire other patients to engage with CR and complete the program. “We all need to eat better. We all need to exercise every day. For patients with cardiac disease, it shows them that they don’t have to give up on having fun and playing sports. CR patients just need to learn what sports are safe and what their individual limitations are. The World Heart Games is one way they can find that out,” he says.

Level Up Your Health

With the AACVPR 2025 World Heart Games scholarship, CR teams and patients could receive funding to offset travel, lodging, and expenses related to participation in the World Heart Games. There are five scholarships of $1,000 each up for grabs for teams of two or more athletes that actively fundraise for the games. Applications must be submitted by March 14, 2025. “This scholarship is one way to boost participation among patients, giving them a sense of community and providing the staff a sense of pride in going above and beyond for their patients,” says Dr. Sanders.

With up to 75 participants in the 2022 games, Dr. Sanders and the committee are striving for more participants this year. CR patients who have previously taken part in the games have said they want to participate again and again. With the homemade torch and the relay at the start of the games, CR patients are transported along with the bars of Olympic music to their very own Ancient Greek adventure.