A new US study has revealed that a home-based program improves poor blood circulation in legs. The best part is the fact that people can seek benefits on a long term from the program. People can be kept motivated with the home-based program much more than what they usually are through hospital-based exercise for a common and disabling problem. The treatment at home is also cost-effective.

"I was somewhat surprised that we achieved our results of a continued difference between the intervention and control groups because it is very difficult to get patients to adhere to an exercise program long term even when it is supervised, and our program was unsupervised", said lead researcher Dr. Mary McDermott.

The National Institutes of Health has revealed that peripheral artery disease, or PAD, impacts eight to 12 million people or one in every 20 Americans aged 50 years or more. PAD is a condition caused by plaque build-up in arteries. This often affects the legs.

Chances of suffering a heart attack or stroke are significantly increased by PAD. Usually, PAD does not have classic symptoms apart from weakness or tiredness in the legs of patients. Doctors and patients often think that this is the result of aging.

The risk of contracting the disease is twice as higher for African Americans than whites. However, smokers, diabetics, people with hypertension or high cholesterol and anyone who has had a heart attack or stroke are others at high risk of suffering from the disease.

It was found that patients who participated in home-based program helped them battle the condition much better than those who did not exercise. Findings of the study have good implications for PAD patients to exercise to stay prevented from lethal effects of the disease.