Use It or Lose It : Walking Through the Pain

"The condition is underdiagnosed and undertreated despite it being common and associated with mobility limitation and an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, amputation and death."
"The public is not well informed about peripheral artery disease or its main symptom of intermittent claudication. Clinical guidelines recommend exercise as a first-line approach."
"There is good quality research evidence showing that it [exercise] can improve walking ability and quality of life. Some types of exercise are more effective than others, so it is useful to highlight the type that will benefit people the most."
Garry Tew, Northumbria University, Newcastle, U.K.

"It may take a while to achieve significant improvements after you have started exercising or walking, so be patient."
"Be intentional about exercising and aim to do it for 30 to 60 minutes per day several times a week."
"But do not be afraid to start, even if you cannot achieve this at the beginning."
Ukachukwu Abaraogu, Glasgow Caledonian University, U.K.

Roughly four percent of people over age 60 are affected by intermittent claudication, the most common symptom of peripheral artery disease. The condition, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the United Kingdom, leads to impaired quality of life and with it there follows an increased risk of death from heart attack or stroke.

Intermittent claudication is characterized by discomfort in the calf and upper legs while walking. The condition is a mark of narrowed blood vessels as a result of heart disease. And like any part of the human body, when discomfort and pain leads people to stop physical activity that causes that pain, in this instance, the legs, people hesitate to continue walking and eventually end up wheelchair-bound.

The pain results when too little blood reaches the muscles, generally a sign that blood vessels in the legs have become clogged by atherosclerosis; peripheral artery disease, causing intermittent claudication. Yet supervised exercise programs have been shown to help, and according to a group of exercise and rehabilitation experts, exercise should be the first line of treatment for people suffering from the condition.

Those experts have put together a new infographic, illustrated in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines in the U.K. recommends a three-month supervised exercise program to reduce pain, improve heart health, help mood, improve sleep, maintain a healthy weight and ultimately decrease the need for vascular leg procedures, like clearing blood vessels and inserting a stent.

The authors write in praise of supervised exercise classes as having the greatest merit in benefiting people, yet if such programs are not locally available people can still opt to exercise on their own, using a method that alternates between walking for three to ten minutes until moderate-to-strong pain arises, resting to allow the pain to subside; then resuming walking for three to ten minutes.

Peripheral artery diseas

Ideally, 30 to 60 minutes of walking per session is recommended, three to five sessions weekly. On two other days weekly, people can include strength and balance activities like yoga, dance, tai chi, bowling or lifting weights. Comfortable clothing is suggested and remaining hydrated during these exercise regimens. Walking routes should be selected that have occasional places to rest.

Should chest pain, dizziness or illness occur during a session, medical advice should be sought. The researchers urge that people not succumb to fear of walking with leg pain, that walking speed be gradually increased with time since typically it takes several weeks of exercise for symptoms to begin to improve.