Home based circuit training for people with intermittent claudication
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Community WALKing and home-baSed circuiT tRaining in peOple liviNG with intermittent claudication (WALK-STRONG): a randomised controlled feasibility trial
IRAS ID
301723
Contact name
Amy Harwood
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Coventry University
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a common problem that is the blocking of arteries in the legs by fatty deposits. This causes low blood flow to the muscles in the leg and can cause pain when people walk or do exercise. The medical term for this pain is known as ‘intermittent claudication’.
Research has shown that supervised exercise can help to reduce this pain and improve people’s walking and quality of life. However, we know that the number of people who start these types of programme is low and there are often not enough programmes available. One way to help provide exercise to more people is to have a home-based exercise programme. Previous studies have asked people to walk until their legs begin to hurt, then rest until the pain goes away, and then walk again. There is some information to show that this type of exercise also works well at home. However, there is less information on whether strength training at home is effective. This type of exercise may help in other areas of life by improving balance and helping to prevent falls. We want to find out whether it is possible for people with ‘intermittent claudication’ to complete an exercise programme that uses both walking and strength training.
We will undertake a type of trial called a feasibility randomised controlled trial. This means that people will be randomly allocated to one intervention or another. One of these groups will be asked to take part in an exercise programme. The other group will be asked to go about their normal life.
We will ask people to complete some exercise tests and questionnaires at the start of the programme. We will then ask the people in the exercise group to increase the amount of walking they do each week, and to complete an exercise circuit in their home on two days per week. This circuit will involve six exercises with weights and more walking in-between. This exercise programme will last 12 weeks. We will then ask people to return and complete the same tests and questionnaires they did at the start, to see if they have made any improvements. We will also compare these to the people who did not do the exercise programme.REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/WM/0208
Date of REC Opinion
17 Nov 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion