• Improved functional capacity after single modality cardiac rehabilitation
• Functional capacity increases more after cycling-based exercise
• Patients with chronic heart failure and coronary artery disease react differently

Although the concept of cardiac rehabilitation often combines multiple training modalities, cardiac patients improve their functional capacity as well when they only perform exercise training on a cycle ergometer or treadmill. In general, cycling seems to create a larger effect than treadmill exercise, but this effect size differs per heart condition: patients with coronary artery disease increase their peak-oxygen uptake more on the cycle ergometer, while patients with chronic heart failure experience more beneficial effects with treadmill exercise. This is the conclusion of American researchers who performed meta-analyses of 23 randomised controlled studies with 600 included participants.