Can you do physical exercise if you have an implantable cardioverter defibrillator?

YES: Ideally you should start in a monitored setting such as phase ii cardiac rehab. Also, it is important to tell your cardiologist or electrophysiologist - whoever programs your icd. They may need to reprogram for higher heart rates that will occur with exercise. Weight lifting with the arm where the icd is implanted may not be such a good idea - check with your ep or cardiologist.

I Agree, and...: I agree with dr. Wright, and would add that we generally discourage contact sports which may directly impact the device such as boxing, tackle football, and hard-check basketball. Though quite rare, very forceful impact has the potential to destabilize the connection between the leads (wires) and the device, or even damage the wires themselves.