HHS HealthBeat (February 05, 2009)

Practiced Walking

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From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

It sounds like a paradox. Peripheral arterial disease can make it harder for people to walk, but researchers say supervised walking on a treadmill can help them walk more easily.

Mary McDermott of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine found that in a six-month training program. She studied increases in the distance people could walk in a six-minute test and the time that participants could walk on a treadmill without stopping.

[Mary McDermott speaks] ``There was significant improvement in walking endurance measured by the six-minute walk test and the amount of time they could walk on the treadmill without stopping.’’

The study included people who got leg pain when they walked and those who did not get pain.

The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: February, 05 2009