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Exercise training and peripheral vascular disease
K H Tan1, L De Cossart, P R Edwards
1Department of Surgery, Countess of Chester Hospital, Liverpool Road, Chester CH2 1UL, UK.
The British Journal of Surgery
|May 3, 2000
Summary
Exercise rehabilitation improves intermittent claudication by addressing multiple factors beyond blood flow. Benefits include improved muscle metabolism, reduced inflammation, and enhanced cardiorespiratory function, leading to better quality of life.
Area of Science:
- Vascular Medicine
- Rehabilitation Science
- Exercise Physiology
Background:
- Intermittent claudication (IC) management often involves conservative approaches, with exercise rehabilitation being a primary treatment.
- Patients with IC experience reduced physical status due to factors beyond decreased blood flow.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the mechanisms underlying improvements in patients with intermittent claudication undergoing exercise rehabilitation.
- To elucidate the multifactorial nature of exercise program success in improving physical status and quality of life.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of Medline articles using keywords 'claudication', 'peripheral vascular disease', and 'exercise'.
- Cross-referencing of relevant studies was performed to ensure comprehensive data inclusion.
Main Results:
- Improvements in IC are multifactorial, involving metabolic efficiency, cardiorespiratory reserve, and exercise-induced inflammation.
- Exercise training enhances skeletal muscle oxidative capacity, oxygen utilization, and rectifies metabolic dysfunction.
- Blood rheology improves, exercise-induced inflammation decreases, cardiorespiratory status benefits, and the oxygen cost of exercise is reduced.
Conclusions:
- Exercise rehabilitation is a cornerstone for managing intermittent claudication, offering benefits beyond increased limb blood flow.
- The success of exercise programs is attributed to improvements in muscle function, inflammation, and cardiorespiratory fitness.
- Enhanced physical status and quality of life are key outcomes of comprehensive exercise interventions for IC.