부산대학교 도서관

'Claudication' refers to pain experienced in the legs that is brought on by exertion, caused by relative ischaemia of the muscle. Exercise is effective in improving vascular claudication pain and walking distance. Despite this, community-based exercise rehabilitation programmes that are directly available to GPs are almost unknown in the UK. In this pilot study, the authors assess the practicalities of setting up such a programme and evaluate its efficacy.Patients with stable claudication for whom exercise was not contraindicated were enrolled into a twice-weekly exercise programme for up to 8 months (n =20). This was supervised by one of the authors with experience in exercise rehabilitation. Outcome measures included the Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) and the Short-Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire. The average walking distance as measured by the 6MWT increased by 16.3% (P=0.001). There was also a 23.5% increase in the average score of the physical functioning domain of the SF-36 (P=0.007).Community-based exercise rehabilitation for lower limb claudication is safe and effective, with high compliance and attendance rates. Walking distances increase both objectively and subjectively. Patients also become more able to cope with claudication pain and show improvements in their physical function. If these programmes are available to primary care groups, the majority of patients can be managed in the community, reducing the workload of consultant-based hospital services.