Promoting cardiovascular health through personalized supervised exercise therapy in intermittent claudication

Intermittent claudication is an expression of arteriosclerosis, in which pain occurs in the legs during walking as a result of insufficient blood flow. In addition, patients with intermittent claudication have an increased risk of other cardiovascular diseases. Treatment usually consists of supervised walking therapy and is aimed at symptom control and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. This thesis shows that walking therapy is suitable for patients regardless of the level of arteriosclerosis (at the groin or lower in the leg). In addition, personal characteristics, such as motivation and depression, have no effect on the success rate of the therapy. In addition to walking therapy, other forms of therapy, such as resistance training and cycling, appear to be effective for intermittent claudication. This offers opportunities to better align the training program with the patient's personal wishes and goals. Finally, it has been shown that walking therapy has a positive effect on blood pressure and cholesterol. The main recommendation of this thesis is to improve lifestyle counseling in the treatment of intermittent claudication to further reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease