Recommendations for exercise should be determined in consultation with your cardiologist. Particularly in cases where this defect is repaired late in life, there may be a reduced elasticity in the aorta between the heart and the site of the coarctation. This may result in increased blood pressure during physical activity, especially with isometric exercises such as weight lifting. For this reason, it is important for patients to be tested in order to determine safe levels of exercise.

Anyone with congenital heart disease, repaired or non-repaired, should consult with their cardiologist about physical activity to review the risks.