The influence of a long term exercise program on lower limb movement variability and walking performance in patients with peripheral arterial disease.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a 12month exercise program on lower limb movement variability in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Participants (n=21) with an appropriate history of PAD and intermittent claudication (IC) volunteered for this study and were randomly allocated to either a control group (CPAD-IC) (n=11), which received normal medical therapy and a treatment group (TPAD-IC) (n=10), which received normal medical therapy treatment and a 12month supervised exercise program. All participants underwent 2D joint angular kinematic analysis during normal walking to assess lower limb movement variability and walking speed. Between-group differences were analyzed via mixed measures ANOVA. The 12month supervised exercise program made no significant impact on the lower limb movement variability or walking speed of the TPAD-IC group as determined by either intralimb joint coordination or single joint analysis techniques. Long term supervised exercise programs do not appear to influence the lower limb movement variability of PAD-IC patients.