The Impact of Nordic Pole Walk Advice Alone or in Combination With Exercise Strategies on Daily Physical Activity in Patients With Intermittent Claudication: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Anna Sandberg, Joakim Nordanstig, Åsa Cider and 3 others
PMID 37459237WHAT IT FOUND
Adding supervised or home-based exercise to Nordic pole walk advice did not increase daily step counts at 1 year compared with advice alone.
Patients in both exercise groups remained below 7,000 steps per day, showing no advantage over unsupervised advice for overall daily activity.
Key findings
01There was no significant difference in daily step counts between the home exercise, supervised exercise, and advice-only groups at the 1-year follow-up.
02Most patients who started with fewer than 7,000 steps per day did not reach that threshold after 1 year, regardless of treatment group.
03The study was a secondary analysis of a trial designed to measure walking distance, so it was not powered to detect differences in daily physical activity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This was a secondary analysis of a trial powered for walking distance, not daily physical activity, so the results may be underpowered for the outcomes measured here. Adherence to the unsupervised Nordic pole walk advice was not monitored, making it unclear how much walking the control group actually did. Full adherence to the structured exercise programs was low, with only 24% of the home group and 26% of the supervised group attending at least 80% of sessions. The activPAL3 device has not been specifically validated for patients with intermittent claudication, and there are no standardized guidelines for reporting these outcomes in this population.
Declared interests
The funders played no role in the design, conduct, or reporting of this study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that exercise programs are ineffective for patients with intermittent claudication. This study looked specifically at daily step counts, which did not improve, but the main trial showed that exercise programs can still improve walking distance and functional capacity.