Home Treadmills May Help People With Poor Leg Circulation

A home-based treadmill exercise program improved walking speed and endurance in people with poor circulation in the legs, a condition known as peripheral artery disease (PAD). That's the finding of a study that included nearly 200 PAD patients whose change in performance in a six-minute walk was measured over six months. Study patients who did the home-based treadmill exercise program increased their walking distance over six minutes by nearly 150 feet, compared with a decline of 36 feet among patients in a "control" group who did not do the exercise program. Participants in the exercise group also improved their maximum treadmill walking time by nearly a minute and a half, while the change in the control group was about 30 seconds, according to Dr. Mary McDermott, of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and colleagues. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_138363.html