No pain, no gain in exercise for peripheral artery disease

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/nu-npn040621.php

 

News Release 6-Apr-2021
Northwestern University

 

No pain means no gain when it comes to reaping exercise benefits for people with peripheral artery disease (PAD), reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.

In people with peripheral artery disease, walking for exercise at an intensity that induces ischemic leg pain (caused by restricted blood flow) improves walking performance -- distance and length of time walking -- the study found. Walking at a slow pace that does not induce ischemic leg symptoms is no more effective than no exercise at all, the study showed.

This randomized trial is the first to show that a home-based walking exercise program improved walking ability in people with peripheral artery disease when exercise was conducted at a high intensity that induced ischemic leg symptoms but not when the exercise was conducted at a low intensity without ischemic leg symptoms.


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