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 .
Reliability of treadmill testing in peripheral arterial disease: a comparison of a constant load with a graded load treadmill protocol
This study aims to evaluate the reliability of repeated grade d workload treadmill testing ( G-test ; 2 mph ; 0 % grade , increasing 2 % every 2 min ) and to compare the reliability of a constant workload treadmill protocol ( C-test ; 2 mph ; 12 % grade ) versus the grade d workload treadmill protocol in patients with intermittent claudication , studied longitudinally . A clinical trial investigating an orally stable prostacycline derivative that included 330 patients with intermittent claudication was performed . The trial employed three active treatment groups and one placebo group . Because there were no significant inter-group differences at baseline or after treatment , data from all groups were pooled for the evaluation of treadmill test reliability . Treadmill data were obtained from a 2-week run-in phase where three G-tests were performed , as well as from the beginning and the end of a 3-month double-blind phase where a G-test and a C-test were performed in r and om order . Treadmill test reliability was described through test process-related and between-subject variances and also using variance-derived parameters such as the reliability coefficient ( RC ) and the relative precision ( RP ) . A higher value for the RC and a lower value for the RP indicate that the test variability is predominantly due to between-subject variance and not to test process-related variance . Estimates of variance were described for both the maximal or absolute claudication distance ( ACD ) and the initial claudication distance ( ICD ) with each treadmill test . Reliability estimates are reported for the total study sample and for patients with baseline claudication distances < 300 feet and .300 feet ( approximately < 100 m ; .100 m ) , as measured with the C-test . The cut-off value was empirically chosen to separate severely diseased from mild to moderately diseased claudicants . Theoretical considerations suggest that reliability measures may differ in these subgroups . With repeated testing during the run-in phase for the measure of ACD , the G-test had an RC of 0.952 and an RP of 21.9 % . With the comparison of both test protocol s in the entire study population for the measurement of ACD , the G-test had an RC of 0.902 and an RP of 31.3 % , while the C-test had an RC of 0.876 and an RP of 35.2 % . The results for ICD on the G-test were an RC of 0.809 and an RP of 43.7 % , while the C-test had an RC of 0.737 and an RP of 51.3 % . The reliability of the ACD measurement for RC and RP was numerically superior to those for the ICD for both protocol s. In patients with a baseline ACD < 300 feet , the RC for ACD on the G-test was 0.827 and the RP was 41.4 % . In contrast , on the C-test the RC decreased to 0.250 and the RP increased to 86.6 % . These changes in RC and RP were due to a marked decrease in the between-subject variance , demonstrating the inability of the C-test to separate appropriately the different claudication distances in population s with highly limited baseline claudication distances . During a run-in phase , the G-test has excellent test characteristics . During the longitudinal phase of a trial , the reliability of G-tests and C-tests  are comparable in the entire study population . However , in patients with low claudication distances , the G-test should be given preference over the C-test
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 .