.png)
With PAD, walking can be painful, but following a structured exercise plan can help improve your walking ability over time. This video explains how to plan PAD exercise using the FITT principle (frequency, intensity, time, and type), how to use the claudication scale to track leg pain, how to build up your walking time in short bouts, and tips to help you manage discomfort and stay motivated.
If you ever have chest pain, dizziness, or lightheadedness, or you can't breathe or talk, call 911 right away.
If you have PAD, exercise and physical activity can be painful, especially in your legs. When our bodies feel pain, our first reaction is to stop and rest. But with PAD, it's important to follow some specific exercise guidelines that can help improve your walking ability and keep you safe. So what are the exercise guidelines for PAD?
What a PAD exercise session looks like
First, we'll go over what a PAD exercise session looks like. Exercising with PAD may look very different from other types of exercise. As a general plan for exercise, we can use the FITT principle, which stands for frequency, intensity, time, and type. Your care managers use this principle to make an exercise plan for you.
Frequency. For frequency, the goal is to exercise three to five times per week in a structured walking program. Try to sit less and move more in your everyday life as well. You can begin with one exercise day to work up to exercising three times per week.
Intensity. Intensity is how hard you are exercising. You'll want to exercise at a speed or intensity that will bring on claudication, or PAD pain, within eight to ten minutes of exercising. Make sure you can breathe and talk during exercise, staying at an intensity of fairly light to somewhat hard exercise. If you are exercising with little to no pain, you may need to make the exercise more intense by increasing the speed or the incline that you are walking on.
Time. For time, the long-term goal of PAD rehab is to work up to 30 to 60 minutes total per exercise session. You may not be able to start there, and that is okay. You can start with bouts of exercise to build up to it slowly and safely.
Bouts of exercise are shorter time periods that you can repeat. For example, you might walk three to five minutes and need to stop. This three to five minutes of exercise is a bout. Your total exercise time is all of your bouts added together. So if you walked for five minutes, six times, you would have exercised for a total of 30 minutes.
Type. For type, walking is ideal for PAD. Walking requires no equipment to start and is the most effective way to improve your PAD symptoms.
The claudication scale
When you are exercising, you should use the claudication scale to measure PAD pain. The claudication scale is rated from 1 to 5 and will help you progress your exercise program.
You should stop exercising at or before a level 5, stretch, and rest. Note what time you stopped or the total time that you exercised. You can also note your heart rate when you reach level 5.
If you ever experience any chest pain, discomfort, dizziness, or lightheadedness, or you cannot breathe or talk, please call 911 immediately.
Progressing your exercise and managing pain
Third, see how you can progress your exercise and learn about tips to help manage the pain. Keeping track of your claudication time, your total exercise time, and the symptoms that you have will help you make good progress. To avoid losing progress or not seeing new progress, make sure you continue to increase your intensity over time. You can increase the total bouts that you do or the total time, up to 30 to 60 minutes.
If you are struggling with continuing to exercise with pain, we are here to help. Your care manager can give you some tips and ideas to help you manage your pain during exercise. Here are a few tips to get you started: