Impacts of Aquatic vs Land Walking on Vascular Health and Exercise Tolerance in Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease

Pusan National University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Peripheral Artery Disease; Exercise Tolerance; Vascular Function; Peripheral Arterial Disease

Treatments: Other: Aquatic walking exercise program group 2; Other: Aquatic walking exercise program group 1; Other: Land-based walking exercise group

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03849300

UNOmaha5

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of a 12-week aquatic walking exercise program on body composition, vascular function, cardiorespiratory capacity, exercise tolerance, muscular strength, and physical function in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). The effects of the 12-week aquatic walking exercise program were also compared to the effects of a 12-week land-based walking exercise program.

Enrollment: 147 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 50 to 85 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Peripheral artery disease (ankle-brachial index between 0.6 and 0.9)
• 50-85 years of age
• Sedentary (less than 1 hour of regular exercise participation per week within the previous year)

Exclusion criteria

• current smoker (smoking within previous 6 months)
• psychiatric conditions
• pulmonary disease
• renal disease
• thyroid disease

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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147 participants in 4 patient groups

Control Group

No Intervention group

Description:

No exercise intervention

Aquatic walking exercise group 1

Experimental group

Description:

The aquatic walking exercise program was performed for 60 minutes per day, 4 times per week for 12 weeks. The program consisted of a warm-up (10 min) and cool-down (10 min) which included stretching and gait training. The 40-minute main exercise session included 10 minutes of hip flexion-extension, hip abduction-adduction, and knee flexion-extension. The last 30 minutes included water walking (forward, backward). The program intensity was established using heart rate reserve (HRR). Weeks 1-4 were at 50-60% HRR, weeks 5-8 were at 60-70% HRR, and weeks 9-12 were at 70-85% HRR. Subjects wore a heart rate monitor during the whole exercise training session in order to maintain the designated training intensity.

Treatment:

Other: Aquatic walking exercise program group 1

Aquatic walking exercise group 2

Experimental group

Description:

The aquatic walking exercise program was performed for 60 minutes per day, 4 times per week for 12 weeks. The program consisted of a warm-up (10 min) and cool-down (10 min) which included stretching and gait training. The 40-minute main exercise session included 10 minutes of hip flexion-extension, hip abduction-adduction, and knee flexion-extension. The last 30 minutes included water walking (forward, backward). The program intensity was established using heart rate reserve (HRR). Weeks 1-4 were at 50-60% HRR, weeks 5-8 were at 60-70% HRR, and weeks 9-12 were at 70-85% HRR. Subjects wore a heart rate monitor during the whole exercise training session in order to maintain the designated training intensity.

Treatment:

Other: Aquatic walking exercise program group 2

Land-based walking exercise group

Active Comparator group

Description:

The land-based walking exercise program was performed for 60 minutes per day, 4 times per week for 12 weeks. The program consisted of a warm-up (10 min) and cool-down (10 min) which included stretching and gait training. The 40-minute main exercise session included 10 minutes of low-intensity forward, backward, and lateral side-stepping movements on flat group. The remaining 30 minutes included treadmill walking exercise. The program intensity was established using heart rate reserve (HRR). Weeks 1-4 were at 50-60% HRR, weeks 5-8 were at 60-70% HRR, and weeks 9-12 were at 70-85% HRR. Subjects wore a heart rate monitor during the whole exercise training session in order to maintain the designated training intensity.

Treatment:

Other: Land-based walking exercise group