Walking Helps Leg Artery Disease

Treadmill walking can help people with poor blood flow in their legs to walk better, a study shows. The study included 156 people with peripheral artery disease. People with this condition have narrowed leg arteries. They may get leg pain when they walk. But people in the study walked anyway. They built up to walking 40 minutes 3 times a week on a treadmill. After 6 months, they could walk 69 feet farther on a 6-minute treadmill test than they did at the start of the study. Others in the study did no exercise. After 6 months, their walking distance decreased by 49 feet. Reuters Health news service wrote about the study January 14. It appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.