Abstract:
Background : The peripheral arterial disease affects more than 202 million people worldwide.It happens when the arteries in the legs and feet become clogged with fatty Plaque.This can lead to pain, Ischemia and many other symptoms.
Objectives: 1. To evaluate the impact of physiotherapy intervention on ABI and walking performance in patients with mild and moderate peripheral arterial disease. 2. To analyse the effect of patient’s specific and severity based exercise protocol in peripheral arterial disease.
Methodology : In this experimental clinical trial 30 patients with PAD allocated according to the severity of PAD based on ABI in Group A (n=15): Mild PAD (ABI-0.94 to 0.75) and Group B (n=15): Moderate PAD (ABI-0.74 to 0.50). Exercises were prescribed under the category of supervised and home-based exercises. Supervised exercise- treadmill walking was given 3 days a week for 4 weeks. Home Exercise- calf raising exercise was given 3 times a day, every day for 6 weeks. Patient’s specific and severity based protocol was given. Outcomes ABI and WIQ were taken on day 1, end of 2nd, 4th and 6th week.
Results: The data was analysed using SPSS version 21. The result shows significant improvement (p< 0.05) in intragroup comparison in ABI and WIQ after 2nd, 4th and 6th week for both group A-mild PAD and group B-moderate PAD.
Conclusions: severity based and patient’s specific physiotherapy intervention are beneficial for improving the physical and functional performance of patients with mild and moderate PAD.
Keywords: Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), Ankle Brachial Index (ABI), Walking performance, intermittent claudication(IC), Physiotherapy intervention, Exercise