Translation of an evidence-based therapeutic exercise program for patients with peripheral artery disease.
Dereck L Salisbury, Mary O Whipple, Marsha Burt and 4 others
PMID 29452626WHAT IT FOUND
Supervised exercise for leg pain from vascular disease improved walking distance by 11% and workload by 34%.
Self-reported quality of life gains were inconsistent, with no change in general walking impairment scores.
Key findings
01Participants increased their 6-minute walk distance by 11% from 1016 to 1131 feet, a statistically significant improvement.
02Those using the treadmill as their primary exercise mode increased their workload by 0.92 METs, representing a significant 34% increase from baseline.
03While specific PAD quality of life factors improved, there were no significant differences in self-reported walking impairment scores between baseline and follow-up.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was a single-arm pre-post design without a control group, so improvements cannot be definitively attributed to the exercise program alone versus natural history or placebo effects. The sample was predominantly retired, older males, which limits generalizability to working-age individuals or women. There was no structured education component on PAD risk factors, and physical activity outside the supervised sessions was not measured. Nine participants did not complete follow-up testing, introducing potential attrition bias.
Declared interests
No specific funding sources or conflicts of interest declarations were provided in the text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that subjective pain tolerance improved. While walking distance and workload increased significantly, the time and distance until claudication onset did not change significantly, and self-reported walking impairment scores remained unchanged.