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 .
Benefit of exercise conditioning for patients with peripheral arterial disease.
Patients with atherosclerotic peripheral arterial disease ( PAD ) of the lower extremities have impaired walking ability due to exercise-induced muscle ischemia and the result ant pain of intermittent claudication . To evaluate the benefit of exercise training as a treatment for patients with PAD , as well as possible mechanisms associated with improvement , we r and omly assigned 19 men with disabling claudication to treated and control groups . Treatment consisted of supervised treadmill walking ( 1 hr/day , 3 days/wk , for 12 weeks ) with progressive increases in speed and grade as tolerated . Grade d treadmill testing was performed to maximal toleration of claudication pain on entry and after 12 weeks of training to define changes in peak exercise performance . After 12 weeks , treated subjects had increased their peak walking time 123 % , peak oxygen consumption 30 % , and pain-free walking time 165 % ( all p less than 0.05 ) . Control subjects had no change in peak oxygen consumption , but after 12 weeks , peak walking time increased 20 % ( p less than 0.05 ) . In treated subjects , maximal calf blood flow ( measured by a plethysmograph ) increased 38 + /- 45 % ( p less than 0.05 ) , but the change in flow was not correlated to the increase in peak walking time . Elevated plasma concentrations of acylcarnitines have been associated with the functional impairment of PAD and may reflect the metabolic state of ischemic skeletal muscle . In treated subjects , a 26 % decrease in resting plasma short-chain acylcarnitine concentration was correlated with improvement in peak walking time ( r = -0.78 , p less than 0.05 ) . ( ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS
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 .