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 .
Comparison of two progressive treadmill tests in patients with peripheral arterial disease
In a vascular rehabilitation program , 28 % of our frail elderly patients are unable to be tested with traditional progressive exercise protocol s at program entry due to the high ( 2.0 miles/h or 3.2 km/h ) initial treadmill speeds . The purpose of this investigation was to compare a new progressive treadmill protocol which has a reduced initial speed ( 1.0 mile/h or 1.6 km/h ) to an established protocol performed at 2.0 miles/h ( 3.2 km/h ) to determine the comparability and reproducibility of the new protocol . Eleven patients with arterial claudication performed three symptom-limited exercise tests in r and om order . Two tests used the new protocol while the remaining trial used the established protocol .  Claudication pain was measured using a 5-point scale . Oxygen consumption , heart rate , minute ventilation , respiratory exchange ratio and blood pressure at peak exercise were similar among the three trials . There were strong intra-class correlations for peak oxygen consumption ( r = 0.97 ) , onset of claudication ( r = 0.96 ) and maximum walking time ( r = 0.98 ) between the two trials using the new protocol . There was also a significant correlation between the new protocol and the established protocol for peak oxygen consumption ( r = 0.90 ) and maximum walking time ( r = 0.89 ) . The new progressive treadmill protocol represents a valid , reliable protocol for patients with arterial claudication . This protocol may be useful for testing patients with a low functional capacity so that clinical ly appropriate exercise prescriptions can be established and the efficacy of treatments can be determined
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 .