This study aimed to investigate the effects of supervised exercise training (SET) on spatiotemporal gait and foot kinematics parameters in patients with symptomatic lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) during a 6 min walk test. Symptomatic patients with chronic PAD (Fontaine stage II) following a 3 month SET program were included. Prior to and following SET, a 6 min walk test was performed to assess the 6 min walking distance (6MWD) of each patient. During this test, spatiotemporal gait and foot kinematics parameters were assessed during pain-free and painful walking conditions. Twenty-nine patients with PAD (65.4 ± 9.9 years.) were included. The 6MWD was significantly increased following SET (+10%; p ≤ 0.001). The walking speed (+8%) and stride frequency (+5%) were significantly increased after SET (p ≤ 0.026). The stride length was only significantly increased during the pain-free walking condition (+4%, p = 0.001), whereas no significant differences were observed during the condition of painful walking. Similarly, following SET, the relative duration of the loading response increased (+12%), the relative duration of the foot-flat phase decreased (-3%), and the toe-off pitch angle significantly increased (+3%) during the pain-free walking condition alone (p ≤ 0.05). A significant positive correlation was found between changes in the stride length (r = 0.497, p = 0.007) and stride frequency (r = 0.786, p ≤ 0.001) during pain-free walking condition and changes in the 6MWD. A significant negative correlation was found between changes in the foot-flat phase during pain-free walking condition and changes in the 6MWD (r = -0.567, p = 0.002). SET was found to modify the gait pattern of patients with symptomatic PAD, and many of these changes were found to occur during pain-free walking. The improvement in individuals' functional 6 min walk test was related to changes in their gait pattern.
Keywords: 6 min walking test; functional walking; intermittent claudication; vascular rehabilitation.