Succeeding with Exercise Therapy in patients with intermittent claudication

Supervised exercise therapy is the first step in treatment of intermittent claudication. However, adherence to supervised exercise therapy is low. Limited access and reimbursement issues are known reasons, though lack of motivation is often leading. Behavioral determinants influencing motivation and thus adherence to supervised exercise therapy remain to be investigated. In this study the authors sought to determine which behavioral determinants would be of influence on the long-term adherence of supervised exercise therapy (1). The results showed that 108 (54%) patients returned their questionnaire. A total of 79% patients followed supervised exercise therapy. Patients who increased their walking distance after supervised exercise therapy have significantly greater knowledge (p=0.05), positive attitude (p=0.03) and lower negative attitude (p=0.01). Patients with a higher self-efficacy remained significantly more active after participating in supervised exercise therapy (p=0.05). The authors conclude that increasing the determinants knowledge, attitude and self-efficacy will improve adherence to supervised exercise therapy and result in delayed claudication onset time.