If you’ve been diagnosed with peripheral artery disease (PAD), you’re probably asking yourself, “Is there a cure for PAD?” Unfortunately, when your arteries begin to harden, the process cannot be reversed. There is some good news, however. By making healthy changes to your lifestyle and reducing your high cholesterol level, you can help slow the progression of the disease or prevent your PAD from worsening.

At Vascular Care Specialists of Los Angeles, Dr. Mathew Cheung and Dr. Peter Lin discuss what you should know about peripheral artery disease. In this article, you can learn what steps you can take to potentially reduce the symptoms of eliminate this condition from your body.

A peripheral artery disease exercise program is recommended for all patients living with PAD, but particularly for those with claudication, or poor circulation in the leg arteries due to plaque buildup. Exercise, combined with lifestyle changes, may slow or stop the progression of PAD. Potential benefits include:

• Reducing limb pain and symptoms
• Improving exercise ability
• Preventing or improving physical disability
• Decreasing the risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke

Although PAD reversal is not possible, regular physical activity can help relieve the symptoms of PAD. In the beginning, walking may cause pain. However, by alternating activity and rest in timed intervals, you’ll begin to build up the length of time that you can walk before feeling pain.

Experts recommend that PAD patients exercise in a monitored environment, like on a treadmill at a cardiac rehabilitation center. If you aren’t able to go to a cardiac rehab center, your doctor may recommend a community- or home-based program that’s appropriate for your condition.

If it’s difficult to commit to regular exercise sessions, try to complete at least one 10-minute session of exercise most days.

The American Heart Association recommends that patients with PAD participate in structured exercise therapy (SET), which has been shown to produce better results than unsupervised training.

Exercise should be tailored to each patient and should include specific instructions for the type, frequency, intensity, and duration. The most effective structured exercise is conducted in a hospital or outpatient facility. Your doctor may clear you for unsupervised exercise if he or she feels it’s safe for you to do so.

Research has found that home-based exercise programs, a convenient alternative to supervised exercise, can help those with PAD walk farther and faster. Speak with your doctor before starting any exercise program.

Two popular diets make eating healthy easier. These plans have been shown to prevent cardiovascular disease or decrease the progression.

1. The Mediterranean diet – This diet promotes high proportions of olive oil; legumes, such as peas, beans, and lentils; unrefined cereals; fruits; and vegetables. It also includes moderate to high amounts of fish, moderate amounts of dairy, such as cheese and yogurt, and wine. The plan allows very limited amounts of meat and meat products.
2. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet – This diet limits sodium and overall fat intake and restricts alcohol. There is strong evidence this plan reduces hypertension, cardiovascular disease risk, and cardiovascular disease progression.

By eating a variety of nutritious foods from all of the food groups, you’ll ensure that your body gets the proper nutrients it needs. Be sure to read Nutrition Facts labels and stick to recommended portion sizes.

Before beginning any diet program, it’s important to consult your physician to determine if there are any health issues that may affect you while changing your eating habits.

Smoking is one of the top PAD risk factors, followed by ethnicity, diabetes, poor kidney function, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The strong correlation between smoking and PAD has been the subject of research for more than 60 years. In fact, 50 percent of PAD cases can be directly attributed to smoking. Additionally, current smokers are almost four times as likely to develop asymptomatic PAD as non-smokers. Additionally, it doesn’t take much to up your risk for developing PAD. Smoking even half a pack of cigarettes a day may increase your risk of having PAD by up to 50 percent.

By quitting smoking, you can prevent PAD from worsening and increase your chance of survival. In a recent study, PAD patients who continued to smoke were more than twice as likely to die within five years as those who quit within the year. Specifically, the risk of dying within five years for the quitters with PAD was 14 percent, compared to 31 percent for those who continued to smoke.

Patients with extreme PAD who continued smoking were nearly three times as likely to die within five years compared to those who quit. Specifically, for patients with critical leg ischemia, quitting smoking reduced their risk of dying significantly — from a 43 percent mortality rate within five years for smokers to an 18 percent rate for quitters.

While there is no quick and easy cure for PAD, you can reduce the symptoms and reverse the disease progression of PAD. This can be achieved by making lifestyle changes like exercise, eating healthy, and not smoking. These life style changes will greatly improve your health and wellbeing.

At Vascular Care Specialists of Los Angeles, we strive to provide the best service, care, and results possible. If you are symptoms related to peripheral arterial disease and would like further treatment, give us a call at 626-275-9566 to schedule an appointment. You can also visit us at www.vcsla.com for more information.