Patients must be educated
and understand that they will experience the symptoms of IC
when first launching the new exercise regimen. In a systematic
review, PAD patients who participated in a regular exercise regimen
had a mean improvement of 150% and 179% in walking
ability.7 Another review using 33 randomized controlled trials,
results revealed that while supervised exercise programs do not
change hemodynamics (blood pressure reading found in the
lower extremities, Ankle Brachial Indices [ABIs]), they do increase
patients walking distance to pain or IC symptoms.