Scientists from Northwestern University found that people with a condition that restricts blood flow to the legs and feet may be able to improve their long-term walking ability by walking for exercise at a pace that feels painful or uncomfortable.
They found people with peripheral arterial disease, or PAD, who walked at a speed that caused painful symptoms and increased their walking speed and leg function more than those who walked for exercise at a more comfortable pace.
The research is published in the Journal of the American Heart Association and was conducted by Dr. Mary McDermott et al.
An estimated 8 to 10 million U.S. adults have PAD, a condition characterized by reduced blood and oxygen flow stemming from a narrowing of the arteries that take blood from the heart to the rest of the body.
The condition typically affects the legs and feet, causing symptoms during walking such as cramping, weakness, fatigue, aching, and pain or discomfort that fades within 10 minutes after resting.
Prior research has shown walking for exercise can improve walking ability and walking distance for people with PAD.
In the current study, researchers tested 264 adults with PAD from four U.S. medical centers who were randomly assigned to one of three groups:
Walking for exercise at home at a pace that induced pain and discomfort, walking for exercise at a more comfortable pace and not walking for exercise.
Participants, who were an average of 69 years old, were followed for 12 months, with walkers wearing a device to monitor walking intensity and duration.
All participants took a set of leg function tests at the study’s outset, at six months and after 12 months.
After six months, the team found the group that walked at a pace that caused pain or discomfort was able to walk 11 feet per minute faster than the group that walked at a comfortable pace, and almost 13 feet per minute faster than the group that did not walk for exercise.
After 12 months, the group that experienced pain walked 16 feet per minute faster than the more comfortable group.
After 12 months, people who experienced leg pain or discomfort when walking also performed better in the additional testing that measured leg function than those who walked at a more comfortable pace.
There was no big improvement in walking speed for those who walked at a comfortable pace compared with those who didn’t walk for exercise at all.
The team says these findings are consistent with “no pain, no gain” with regard to walking exercise in PAD.
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