Concurrent strength and endurance training improves physical capacity in patients with peripheral arterial disease

Abstract

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) patients suffer from reduced blood flow to the lower extremities, which causes impaired walking ability. Plantar flexion (PF) endurance training and maximal strength training (MST) induce distinct types of improvements in walking ability in PAD. However, the combined effects of both exercises are still not explored in these patients. This study examined whether concurrent MST and PF training would induce similar training responses as each training mode alone. Ten patients with PAD underwent 8 weeks of concurrent leg press MST and PF training, three times a week. The reference group (n=10) received recommended exercise guidelines. The training group improved treadmill peak oxygen consumption and incremental protocol time to exhaustion with 12.7 ± 7.7% and 12.6 ± 13.2%. Leg press maximal strength and rate of force development improved with 38.3 ± 3.1% and 140.1 ± 40.3%, respectively, along with a 5.2 ± 6.2% within group work economy improvement. No changes appeared in the reference group. Compared with previous studies, concurrent MST and PF training appear to induce similar training responses in PAD patients as when each training mode is executed alone, and without any adverse effects.

Exercise Therapy for Claudication: Latest Advances

“…Plantar flexion exercise consists of patients being in a seated or recumbent position and actively moving the foot in a plantar and dorsi flexion motion against a resistive pedal. Several trials have examined this mode of exercise for improving walking ability in PAD [48–50]. Recently, Tebbutt et al [48] randomized PAD patients (n = 42) to an unsupervised intervention group consisting of 12 weeks of plantar flexion (also advice to walk at home) and a control group that received only advice to walk at home.…”

“…Other resistance training studies have evaluated the effect of strength training consisting of dynamic movement using the upper and/or lower limbs to determine if walking ability is improved in PAD patients [13,26,50–55]. Recently, Meneses et al [52] compared the effects on claudication onset distance and peak walking distance following a supervised upper and lower body resistance exercise program or a supervised walking program in patients with IC.…”

The Impact of Walking Exercises and Resistance Training upon the Walking Distance in Patients with Chronic Lower Limb Ischaemia

“…Muscles which are easily weakened include knee joint flexors, plantar flexors, and dorsal foot muscles. Muscle weakness is often accompanied by lower muscle mass and, in the case of triceps surae, an aggravated function of the fibular nerve [19–21]. …”

How to simultaneously optimize muscle strength, power, functional capacity, and cardiovascular gains in the elderly: an update

“…These results are quite relevant given that, in addition to declines in muscle strength, menopause is associated with increased arterial stiffness. In another study, concurrent training improved the physical capacity of patients with peripheral arterial disease (Mosti et al 2011).…”