Hi I’m Joanne Duff, a Clinical Physiologist at Heartbeat and PhD researcher with Manchester Metropolitan University. We know that an Exercise and Education Programme benefits those who have had surgery to improve blood flow to their heart, but nobody has done research to see if an Exercise & Education Programme benefits those who have had surgery to improve blood flow to their legs….until now!

My name is Sally, I am a British Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention Instructor at Heartbeat and in the final year of my PhD. I am investigating the optimal level of claudication pain for patients with peripheral artery disease. Intermittent claudication is the main symptom of peripheral artery disease, characterised by a reproducible aching sensation in the calf muscle, brought on by exertion and relieved at rest. Supervised exercise programmes are the first line of treatment for patients with intermittent claudication to help patients walk longer without getting pain in their calves, however it is unclear which level of claudication pain patients should work to before resting (i.e., maximal pain, pain-free or moderate pain). Therefore, we set up a randomised control trial to see which one of the three pain thresholds is most effective. Before this research began, Heartbeat did not receive any peripheral artery disease patient referrals. Therefore, we worked as a multi-disciplinary team to set-up a brand-new referral pathway into Heartbeat. This has been very successful, and we now have three supervised exercises classes for patients with peripheral artery disease running twice a week across two sites (Preston & Chorley).

I’m Ellis, a researcher in clinical exercise physiology and I’m currently looking into how exercise can manage and treat peripheral arterial disease. More specifically, my research is aiming to understand how arteries adapt to exercising at different levels of intensity or pain. So far we know that exercising will improve blood flow to the affected area, but we know much less about the mechanisms behind this process. I am using ultrasound and blood tests to measure for changes within the body, as well assessing for other indicators of cardiovascular disease. The aims of the research are to hopefully impact future exercise guidelines for patients with peripheral arterial disease.