Transcutaneous calf-muscle electro-stimulation: A prospective treatment for diabetic claudicants?

Background:First-line therapy for claudicants with diabetes include supervised exercise programmes to improve walking distance. However, exercise comes with a number of barriers and may be contraindicated in certain conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether calf-muscle electro-stimulation improves claudication distance.Method:A prospective, one-group, pretest–posttest study design was employed on 40 participants living with type 2 diabetes mellitus, peripheral artery disease (ankle-brachial pressure index < 0.90) and calf-muscle claudication. Calf-muscle electro-stimulation of varying frequencies (1–250 Hz) was applied on both ischaemic limbs (N = 80) for 1 h per day for 12 consecutive weeks. The absolute claudication distance was measured at baseline and following the intervention.Results:The cohort (n = 40; 30 males; mean age = 71 years; mean ankle-brachial pressure index = 0.70) registered a mean baseline absolute claudication distance of 333.71 m (standard deviation = 208). Following 9...