For individuals with peripheral artery disease, walking exercise at a pace inducing ischaemic leg symptoms is beneficial compared with walking exercise without ischaemic leg symptoms, according to a study published online 27 July in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Michael M Hammond, MD, MPH, from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues randomly assigned 264 participants with peripheral artery disease (PAD) to home-based walking exercise that induced ischaemic leg symptoms, home-based walking exercise without inducing ischaemic leg symptoms, or a non-exercising control group for 12 months.

The change in walking velocity over 4m and change of the Short Physical Performance Battery at six- and 12-month follow-up were examined.

The researchers found that walking exercise that induced ischaemic symptoms improved change in usual-paced walking velocity over 4m at six- and 12-month follow-up (0.056 and 0.084m/s, respectively), change in fast-paced walking velocity over 4m at six-month follow-up, and change in Short Physical Performance Battery at 12-month follow-up compared with walking exercise without ischaemic symptoms.