Heart failure is associated with significantly reduced physical and mental health, resulting in a markedly decreased quality of life. With the exception of heart failure caused by reversible condition, the condition usually worsens with time. People with heart failure are living longer but with disabling dyspnea that erodes quality of life. A study has been carried out to determine the effectiveness of aerobic exercise training, inspiratory muscle training and combined training programmes on improvement of quality of life among heart failure patients in selected cardiac rehabilitation centers of Dakshina Kannada District. The results showed that there was a significant improvement in the mean scores of Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire after aerobic exercise training 2.03 (p< 0.05), inspiratory muscle training 2.02 (p< 0.05), and combined training 2.02 (p< 0.05), programmes by using Wilcoxon signed rank test. The study concluded that the aerobic exercise training and inspiratory muscle training programmes can be chosen as alternate therapy for improving or maintaining overall quality of life among heart failure patients by improving both strength and endurance of respiratory muscles.
