The Role of Supervised Exercise Therapy in Peripheral Arterial Obstructive Disease

Peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) commonly results from progressive narrowing or occlusion of arteries in the lower extremities mostly due to atherosclerosis. The atherosclerotic process of progressive narrowing and hardening of arteries can occur in each artery in the human body, however it mainly affects coronary, cerebral and peripheral arteries especially those in the lower extremities(1). The preferential sites of involvement of PAOD are the femoral and popliteal arteries in 80-90%, the tibial and peroneal arteries in 4050% and in 30% the aorta and iliac arteries(2). The manifestation of PAOD ranges from no symptoms to tissue loss that may eventually requires amputation of an affected limb. The majority of patients with PAOD have asymptomatic or atypical disease (figure 1).