Mechanical valve and heart rate

[Patsman07]

Heading for AVR in the next few weeks. Edging towards Ross Procedure but Mech valve is my plan B at the moment.
Recently a friend was telling me that someone in his cycling club has a mechanical valve and that when they come to a hill this man has to monitor his heart rate and if it goes over a certain rate he has to get off his bike and wait for it to go back down.

Is there a limit to what heart rate is safe with a mechanical valve? Or would this be due to some other issue, such as medication etc?

 

[pellicle]

Hi

Is there a limit to what heart rate is safe with a mechanical valve? Or would this be due to some other issue, such as medication etc?

age is the primary rate limiter. I have never yet heard of a mechanical valve limit ... so medications or something else is my guess.

Recently a friend was telling me that someone in his cycling club has a mechanical valve and that when they come to a hill this man has to monitor his heart rate and if it goes over a certain rate he has to get off his bike and wait for it to go back down.

speak to the guy directly, not the mate of a friend who knows the fella ... I know from my own experience I get the 5hits with well meaning friends and family saying rubbish about me when the fact is they have totally no idea what they're talking about.

Stuff like "are you ok to carry that you've got a heart condition" ... sheesh

Unless the guy has some other serious issues or some medications (or has no idea how to use gears or rides a fixie), I'd say getting off is pointless. I just dial back the gear and spin faster (so I go slower) on hills.

I personally have hit over 220 (according to my HR monitor and a quick sample), but know from experience that over the last few decades that if I go over 160 and its a long hill I'll burn out if I don't dial back. Simple as that

some estimates:
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Getti...ity/Target-Heart-Rates_UCM_434341_Article.jsp

Know Your Numbers
The table below shows estimated target heart rates for different ages. In the age category closest to yours, read across to find your target heart rate. Your maximum heart rate is about 220 minus your age.
The figures are averages, so use them as general guidelines.
Age Target HR Zone 50-85% Average Maximum Heart Rate, 100%

40 years 90-153 beats per minute 180 beats per minute
45 years 88-149 beats per minute 175 beats per minute
50 years 85-145 beats per minute 170 beats per minute
55 years 83-140 beats per minute 165 beats per minute
60 years 80-136 beats per minute 160 beats per minute
65 years 78-132 beats per minute 155 beats per minute
70 years 75-128 beats per minute 150 beats per minute

Important Note: A few high blood pressure medications lower the maximum heart rate and thus the target zone rate.

 

[pellicle]

ps:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1341626

Abstract

Between 1978 and 1987, 1270 patients who survived single aortic or mitral valve replacement at the Rehabilitation Center in Bad Krozingen, Germany, underwent a comprehensive rehabilitation program....
Follow up examinations were carried out one and six months after surgery, and at yearly intervals thereafter. Exercise testing was performed with an electrically braked bicycle ergometer...or 80% of the age predicted maximum heart rate was achieved.

probably they didn't push them as hard as I push myself.

Ask Skigirl what her training HR is ...

BTW how old are you?

 

[RunMartin]

I have never been told to watch my heart rate. I am more worried about how slow my heartrate sometimes get rather than an upper limit.
I have measured mine recently whilst training hard and it reached 168.

 

[Cooker]

Never heard of a limit ... On my last stress echo they took me to 160 BPM ... I have had no restrictions placed on activity or HR.

 

[SumoRunner]

I once corresponded with an engineer who worked on product testing of mechanical valves. He said they were tested to at least 30 years worth of cycles. In order to get 30 yrs of clicks in a short enough span they ran the test machine at several thousand RPM. If they can hold up under 2000 ticks a minute, 200 is not a problem. They also subject them to much higher pressures than a human heart can exert.

 

[Patsman07]

Thanks fot all the replies. The more I learn the more reassured I become!

 

[knotguilty]

Brings to mind a question. I thought a person who regularly exercises and has for a period of time, their heart rate can be that of a younger person. I am 57 and I get my heart rate up to 165 sometimes while running. But I also think that maximum heart rate varies between individuals anyway. The chart is a good guideline to ensure safety unless you know what you can handle.

 

[yotphix]

At 44 I have had my mechanical valve up over 200 BPM countless times. It's not really a great place to keep it in terms of generating exercise benefit, but sometimes it's just the ticket to take me up a hill, or for a sprint home. It was never suggested to me by my surgeon, my cardiologist or anyone at cardiac rehab that I should 'baby' the valve, and I'm planning to use it as I please for as long as it or I last!

 

[ski girl]

Ask Skigirl what her training HR is ...

I can't get my HR over 150! Very rarely it touches 160, but usually I'm gasping for air in the 140s. Still trying to figure that one out. My resting HR is in the low 50s though so the exercise physios think 150 is just fine as a max HR.

Once you have clearance from your doctors, you have no reason not to give that new valve a bloody good workout!!! You owe it to your surgeon to show what you can do with his/her plumbing work.

 

[MarkU]

The formulas that use age to determine a maximum heart rate are general approximations at best, based on large sample pools, so there can be a lot of individual variability. In fact, "maximum heart rate" is a pretty meaningless number from a practical standpoint.

Three years post-op, when I decided I wanted to start training for triathlons, my cardiologist asked that I wear a HR monitor and undergo testing to determine my lactic threshhold heart rate (LTHR). Your LTHR is not your maximum heart rate, but is the point you go from aerobic to anaerobic exercise.

My LTHR tested out to be 159 bpm. My coach used that number to determine my HR training zones, using the charts in Joe Friel's book The Triathlete's Training Bible. For Zone 2 aerobic endurance training (81% - 89% of LTHR), where you spend most of your endurance training, the charts indicated that I should be at 134-143 bpm for running and 127-140 bpm for cycling. My cardiologist advised that I do most of my training in Zones 1-3, and to limit any sustained efforts in Zones 4-5 and above (Zone 5 = 100% of LTHR). He didn't have any specific reason, just wanted to be conservative until we could see how things went.

After a couple of years of training, my resting heart rate (RHR) dropped from a pre-AVR 72 bpm to 42 bpm, where it's held steady for the last few years. I've had no other cardiac issues and my cardiologist no longer puts any limitations on my activities (or HR) at this point.

Although I still track and log my HR, most of my training now is by RPE (or Rated Perceived Exertion) which I find more useful. HR is actually a trailing indicator, subject to temperature and other variables which I felt were adversely affecting my workouts.

Mark

 

[clay_from_nj]

Heart rate? What's that? I crank up my workout as far as I can, plus a little more, and that way I know I'm not under-doing it. The only time my cardio has ever shown any concern about my heart rate is being sure it isn't too low from my meds.

"If it doesn't hurt I'm probably not doing it right." - Olympic gold cyclist Sir Chris Hoy

 

[SumoRunner]

Heart rate? What's that? I crank up my workout as far as I can, plus a little more, [/I]

Right. Wednesday night our running club met at the U. Albany track for intervals. I'm training to run the mile on a track, so my intervals were short and fast, some all-out, so I can say I pushed the HR to the max, whatever that is these days. I wasn't the only cardiac athlete there. Another guy who had a multiple bypass a few years back was also running longer intervals of 600-800 meters. I could tell by the look on his face that he had maxed out by the end of the workout as well.