No abstract

Background: Exercise therapy (ET) is the main conservative and proven effective treatment of patients with intermittent claudication. Currently, the most frequent exercise prescription is a single 'go home and walk' advise, without supervision or follow-up. There is no evidence to support the efficacy of this advise and compliance is known to be low. Therefore, a systematic approach was used to guarantee quality and standardisation of treatment, optimal guideline adherence and improved of inter-professional communication between vascular surgeons and physiotherapists. In this preliminary report we would like to outline the steps taken for the development and implementation of the Network Exercise Therapy Parkstad