Healthy ageing
Staying active and independent in the best years?
Ageing well: keeping vessels “young” for an active life.
Healthy ageing with EECP: in brief.
You are as old as your vessels: elastic blood vessels are the basis for stamina and vitality into old age. EECP Cardio Pulse addresses an important factor in ageing: the function of the vessel lining, without straining joints or circulation.
Situations you know.
- You are healthy and want to stay that way
- There was early heart or vascular disease in your family
- Blood pressure, blood sugar or cholesterol are being monitored
- Exercise capacity is gradually declining
- You invest in prevention that acts on the vessels
What vascular ageing means.
Over the years the arteries gradually stiffen. The loss of elasticity reduces the oxygen supply to heart and muscles, often long before a disease is diagnosed. Those who do not want to wait until the first limitations shape everyday life look after the vessel lining, the endothelium, preventively.
How EECP can complement prevention.
The foundations for healthy vessels are well known: exercise, nutrition, sleep, stopping smoking, well-controlled values. They can remain the basis. Sometimes joints, time or fitness limit endurance training. Then EECP Cardio Pulse can be a complement. The vessel lining is trained while you lie down, in time with your own heart.
How EECP can help with healthy ageing.
EECP Cardio Pulse is passive training for the vessel lining while you lie back and relax. The timed pressure waves on the legs increase the flow and with it the pull of the blood on the vessel lining, the shear stress. As a result the endothelium produces more nitric oxide, the messenger that widens vessels: the vessels can widen better again, and the smallest vessels are better perfused. Like endurance training, only without strain on the joints. The aim is to preserve the elasticity of the vessels for a long time.
Who EECP may be suitable for as prevention.
Prevention with risk factors
Blood pressure, blood sugar, blood lipids or family history increase the risk. Vascular function is the part you can influence.
Staying active in older age
You want to preserve endurance and independence. Elastic vessels are the prerequisite for that.
When endurance training is limited
Joints, back or everyday life do not allow regular training. EECP Cardio Pulse trains the vessels passively.
What speaks for EECP in prevention.
Aim: counteracting vascular stiffening
Aim: supply to heart and muscles via the smallest vessels
Passive, lying down, without exhaustion or strain on the joints
Lasting effect of EECP therapy for healthy ageing.
After the course no further treatment is needed. What the vessel lining has learned can be retained if exercise and good values come with it. How long the effect lasts varies and has not yet been studied in healthy people.
What EECP does not do for prevention.
EECP Cardio Pulse is not a rejuvenation cure. It does not promise a longer life. It trains the function of the vessel lining, a central factor in vascular ageing. Together with exercise, nutrition and well-controlled values, that can be one building block for staying active for a long time.
Using everything, leaving nothing out.
Our philosophy: use every option in cardiology – including the body's own natural powers. EECP Cardio Pulse sets targeted flow stimuli and supports the vascular system's capacity to adapt. Entirely without a procedure, complementing conventional cardiology. As much as necessary, as gentle as possible.
Your path with EECP Cardio Pulse.
- 01
Cardio Check-Up
cardiac diagnostics.
- 02
First session
One hour lying down.
- 03
Series
35 sessions, one hour each.
- 04
Final check-up
The check-up.
View related research
A randomised, sham-controlled trial of 42 patients with coronary artery disease showed that EECP improves flow-mediated dilation, a recognised measure of the health of the vessel lining; a meta-analysis of 19 randomised trials confirms this. There are no dedicated studies yet in healthy people without heart disease; as prevention, EECP builds on these vascular effects.
Braith RW, Conti CR, Nichols WW, et al. Enhanced external counterpulsation improves peripheral artery flow-mediated dilation in patients with chronic angina: a randomized sham-controlled study. Circulation. 2010;122(16):1612–1620. PMID 20921442
Questions about EECP and healthy ageing.
Is EECP possible without symptoms?
EECP Cardio Pulse can be used as vascular training. The prerequisite is the Cardio Check-Up, which shows that the heart and valves tolerate the treatment well. Whether it makes sense in your situation is clarified there.
What has been measured in studies?
A randomised, sham-controlled study showed that EECP improves flow-mediated dilation, a recognised measure of the adaptability of the vessels. A meta-analysis of 19 randomised studies confirms this. The people studied had heart disease.
From what age does this make sense?
There is no fixed age limit. Vascular ageing begins early and progresses differently depending on way of living and predisposition. EECP Cardio Pulse becomes useful when risk factors are present or exercise capacity declines. The Cardio Check-Up shows the starting point.
How does EECP differ from endurance training?
Both increase the flow in the vessels and so train the vessel lining. Endurance training also demands effort from the heart, lungs and muscles. EECP does not: you lie down, and the pulse stays calm. That is why the two complement each other well. EECP Cardio Pulse is also an option when training is not sufficiently possible.
Is a course repeated?
That depends on the course and on your values. After the course of treatment we discuss whether and when a repeat makes sense. Many studies work with one course per year.
Does health insurance cover EECP for prevention?
Statutory health insurers generally do not cover EECP Cardio Pulse. For prevention without disease, this applies all the more. Billing is based on the German medical fee schedule (GOÄ), around 100 euros per session. You receive a cost plan in advance.
General information, not a promise of cure. Whether EECP is suitable for you is something we clarify after a cardiac examination.
Just give us a call.
We answer your questions and arrange an appointment together.
Private service under the GOÄ fee schedule: about 100 euros per session.