Cardiac Rehabilitation & Wellness

Our Step Family Cardiac Rehabilitation and Wellness Center provides a medically supervised program designed to improve cardiovascular health through exercise, lifestyle changes and stress reduction.

If you have heart disease or have experienced a cardiac event or surgery, the cardiac rehabilitation and wellness program can help you change your lifestyle and provide you with the tools to stay on your new path. It's part of UC San Diego Health's comprehensive heart care services.

Outstanding Rehabilitation and Wellness Services

We partner with Pritikin Intensive Cardiac Rehab to provide comprehensive, early outpatient rehabilitation services. We focus on the three key pillars of the Pritikin program: Regular exercise, heart-healthy nutrition and a healthy mindset.

Our program includes:

  • A one-on-one medical evaluation to determine your needs and any limitations you may have
  • An exercise regimen tailored to your current fitness level. This may include strength training and/or cardiovascular exercise using a treadmill, bike or rowing machine, or a plan for walking or jogging
  • Engaging, Pritikin-exclusive workshops and cooking classes that will teach you how to:
    • Implement lifestyle changes to improve heart health
    • Start and maintain a safe and effective exercise program at home
    • Shop for and cook heart-healthy meals
    • Lose weight using healthy scientific strategies
    • Make heart-healthy choices when dining out
    • Manage daily stress
    • Quit smoking
  • Individual nutrition counseling with a registered dietitian
  • Health coaching sessions with our registered nurses, exercise physiologists or behavioral health professional to help you start and maintain heart-healthy behaviors to reduce stress and promote active living
  • Monitoring new or ongoing symptoms, blood pressure, and heart rate and ECG readings

Cardiac Rehab Sessions

You can get 36 or 72 rehabilitation sessions, depending on your insurance plan or Medicare coverage.

Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation

This offers several advantages to patients.

Referrals

Patients are usually referred to our cardiovascular rehab and wellness program by a doctor. But you are welcome to call us at 858-249-1308 for help with this process.

Expert Care Team

Your care team can include physicians, registered nurses, exercise physiologists, registered dietitians, behavioral health specialists, fitness instructors (for tai chi, yoga, etc.) and program managers.