Data showed improvements secondary to exercise in ' physical function ' and ' general health ' .
The other domains - ' role physical ' , ' bodily pain ' , ' vitality ' , ' social ' , ' role emotional ' , and ' mental health ' - did not show improvement at six months .
Although results showed significant heterogeneity between trials , population s and outcomes were comparable overall , with findings relevant to the claudicant population .
High- quality evidence shows that exercise programmes provided important benefit compared with placebo or usual care in improving both pain-free and maximum walking distance in people with leg pain from IC who were considered to be fit for exercise intervention .
Exercise did not improve ABI , and we found no evidence of an effect of exercise on amputation or mortality .
Exercise may improve quality of life when compared with placebo or usual care .
BACKGROUND Exercise programmes are a relatively inexpensive , low-risk option compared with other , more invasive therapies for treatment of leg pain on walking ( intermittent claudication ( IC ) ) .
This is the fourth up date of a review first published in 1998 .
OBJECTIVES Our goal was to determine whether an exercise programme was effective in alleviating symptoms and increasing walking treadmill distances and walking times in people with intermittent claudication .
Secondary objectives were to determine whether exercise was effective in preventing deterioration of underlying disease , reducing cardiovascular events , and improving quality of life .
Randomized Reliability Study Evaluating Constant-load and Graded-exercise Treadmill Test for Intermittent Claudication
The aim of this r and omized study was to compare the reliability of the treadmill test at constant-load ( C-test , 3 km/hr ; fixed grade of 12 % ) recommended in Germany with that of the grade d-exercise test ( G-test , 3 km/hr ; increase in grade of 3.5 % every 3 minutes ) propagated in the United States . In 50 patients with an absolute claudication distance ( ACD ) in the C-test of between 50 and 400 m , the two treadmill tests were carried out in r and omized order on one and the same day , and repeated on 3 days within 1 week . For the initial claudication distance ( ICD ) , the intraclass correlation was 0.88 in the C-test and 0.87 in the G-test . For the ACD the coefficients were identical at 0.91 . The within-subject variation ( CVwithin ) in the C-test and G-test was 25 % and 27 % for the ICD and for the ACD 24 % and 21 % , respectively . The between-subject variation was very similar with 72 % and 73 % ( ICD ) and with 78 % and 68 % ( ACD ) . However , in ACDs below 100 m and between 100 to 150 m , the C-test showed significantly smaller coefficients of variation than the G-test : 13 % vs 81 % and 14 % vs 50 % , respectively . In conclusion , the results showed that both C-test and G-test are equally well reproducible
Data showed improvements secondary to exercise in ' physical function ' and ' general health ' .
The other domains - ' role physical ' , ' bodily pain ' , ' vitality ' , ' social ' , ' role emotional ' , and ' mental health ' - did not show improvement at six months .
Although results showed significant heterogeneity between trials , population s and outcomes were comparable overall , with findings relevant to the claudicant population .
High- quality evidence shows that exercise programmes provided important benefit compared with placebo or usual care in improving both pain-free and maximum walking distance in people with leg pain from IC who were considered to be fit for exercise intervention .
Exercise did not improve ABI , and we found no evidence of an effect of exercise on amputation or mortality .
Exercise may improve quality of life when compared with placebo or usual care .
BACKGROUND Exercise programmes are a relatively inexpensive , low-risk option compared with other , more invasive therapies for treatment of leg pain on walking ( intermittent claudication ( IC ) ) .
This is the fourth up date of a review first published in 1998 .
OBJECTIVES Our goal was to determine whether an exercise programme was effective in alleviating symptoms and increasing walking treadmill distances and walking times in people with intermittent claudication .
Secondary objectives were to determine whether exercise was effective in preventing deterioration of underlying disease , reducing cardiovascular events , and improving quality of life .