| You walk a block, then clutch your leg with what feels | | | | Americans and anyone with chronic kidney disease, |
| like a charley horse. You stop, and the pain does too. | | | | high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol or a |
| The discomfort may be a warning of a common yet | | | | personal or family history of vascular disease, heart |
| serious condition called peripheral arterial disease | | | | attack or stroke. An estimated 8 to 12 million people in |
| (PAD). In PAD, the same fatty material that can clog | | | | this country have PAD. If you have risk factors, talk to |
| heart arteries builds up in the arteries of the legs, | | | | your doctor, whether or not you have symptoms. The |
| blocking blood flow. The risk for death from heart | | | | PAD Coalition, a consortium of health organizations |
| attack or stroke is six to seven times greater in people | | | | and government agencies, recommends that those at |
| with PAD-equivalent to the risk of someone who's had | | | | risk get a quick, painless, accurate and inexpensive |
| a heart attack or stroke. Without prompt treatment, | | | | diagnostic test called an ABI (ankle-brachial index). The |
| one in four people with the condition will suffer a heart | | | | good news: PAD is both preventable and treatable. |
| attack, stroke or amputation or die within five years. | | | | "PAD is a common and serious disease, which merits |
| PAD is most often recognized when it causes | | | | immediate and lifelong attention," says Dr. Hirsch. |
| claudication-fatigue, cramps, tiredness or pain in the leg | | | | "Become informed and take actions to protect your |
| or buttock muscles that goes away when you stop | | | | health." ARMS FOR LEGS While exercise is helpful for |
| walking. Less frequently, PAD can cause ulcers or | | | | people with PAD, walking-a typical workout for |
| slow-healing wounds on the feet or toes, or pain in the | | | | sufferers-can also be painful. Diane Treat-Jacobson, |
| feet or toes that disturbs sleep. However, as many as | | | | R.N., Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of |
| half to two thirds of those with the condition have no | | | | Minnesota in Minneapolis, has done studies on the |
| symptoms. As with coronary heart disease, key risk | | | | effects of exercise on people with PAD. She recently |
| factors for PAD are having diabetes, smoking or | | | | discovered that supervised training using aerobic arm |
| having smoked, and being over age 50. "If you have no | | | | exercise was as beneficial as treadmill walking in |
| other risk factors, age alone will increase risk-and yet | | | | improving walking distance. Treat-Jacobson notes that |
| risk rapidly increases even in younger people who | | | | while results are preliminary, arm exercise might be a |
| smoke or have diabetes," says Alan T. Hirsch, M.D., | | | | pain-free option that can "help break the cycle of |
| professor of epidemiology at the University of | | | | disability or enable patients to start exercising sooner |
| Minnesota School of Public Health in Minneapolis. "We | | | | after a surgical procedure." Writer: Elinor Nauen |
| want people to recognize that if you are over 50 and | | | | ©MediZine's Healthy Living, Second Quarter 2007 |
| have any other risk factor, you have a one in four | | | | Get a FREE 2-year health magazine subscription to |
| chance of having PAD." Also at risk are African | | | | REMEDY. Also, check out HealthyUpdates. |