In the United States, more than 8 million people ages 40 and
older have peripheral artery disease, or PAD. Also called
peripheral arterial disease, PAD is caused by atherosclerosis,
or plaque buildup, that reduces the flow of blood in peripheral
arteries — the blood vessels that carry blood away from the
heart to other parts of the body. This health topic focuses on
the most common type of PAD, called lower extremity PAD, which
reduces blood flow to the legs and feet.
You may have lower extremity PAD if you have muscle pain or
weakness that begins with physical activity, such as walking,
and stops within minutes after resting. About 1 in 4 people who
have PAD experience these symptoms. But you may experience
other symptoms or no symptoms at all. If you smoke or have high
blood pressure or other risk factors for PAD, even without
symptoms, ask your healthcare provider about getting tested. It
is important to be aware that if you have lower extremity PAD,
you may also have plaque buildup in other arteries leading to
and from your heart and brain, putting you at higher risk
of stroke or heart attack.
Early diagnosis and management of PAD can help treat your
symptoms and reduce your risk for serious complications.
Symptoms
Peripheral artery disease (PAD) may not cause symptoms, or symptoms may
be mild. PAD symptoms include:
Leg pain when walking.
Muscle pain or cramping in the arms or legs, often in the calf.
Muscle pain in the arms or legs that begins with exercise and ends
with rest.
Painful cramping in one or both of the hips, thighs or calves after
walking or climbing stairs or other activities.
Pain when using the arms, such as aching and cramping when knitting
or writing.
Coldness in the lower leg or foot, especially when compared with the
other side.
Leg numbness or weakness.
No pulse or a weak pulse in the legs or feet.
The muscle pain in peripheral artery disease may:
Be mild to extreme.
Wake you up from sleep.
Make it hard to walk or exercise.
Occur during rest or when lying down if the condition is severe.
Other symptoms of PAD may include:
Shiny skin on the legs.
Skin color changes on the legs.
Slow-growing toenails.
Sores on the toes, feet or legs that won't heal.
Hair loss or slower hair growth on the legs.
Erectile dysfunction.
Diagnosis
Your healthcare provider will
diagnose peripheral artery disease (PAD) based
on your medical and family history, a physical
exam, and the results from tests and procedures.
Medical history and physical exam
To help diagnose PAD, your provider will want to
learn about your symptoms, risk
factors, personal health history, and family
health history.
This discussion may include
questions about the following:
Pain or cramps in your legs while
walking or exercising
Problems with your legs and feet, including
swelling, redness, trouble with walking, and
wounds that are slow to heal
Smoking, either current or past
Your family history of PAD, heart
disease, and other blood vessel diseases
During an exam to look for signs of PAD, your
provider will:
Check for weak pulses in your legs.
Listen for poor blood flow in your legs. Your
provider will use a stethoscope to listen
for an abnormal whooshing sound, called a
bruit.
Look for problems on your legs and feet, including
swelling, sores, or pale skin.
Conditions that can seem like PAD
Some conditions, such as arthritis or
vein problems can cause leg pain, but the
symptoms are different from those for PAD. A
physical exam and your medical history can help
your provider rule out these conditions.
However, problems with nerves can cause pain
that may be confused with PAD. Sometimes a nerve
is squeezed where it exits the spinal column.
The result is pain that radiates, or spreads,
from the hips or buttocks and down the leg.
To confirm that your pain is the result of PAD,
your provider may ask you to stand up or change
your position. Those movements often trigger
nerve-related pain. In contrast, PAD pain is
often brought on by leg exercise and is quickly
relieved by rest with no need to change
position.
Diagnostic tests and procedures
The ankle-brachial index (ABI) test is
usually the first test used to diagnose PAD. The
test compares blood pressure in your ankle with
the blood pressure in your arm. Your provider
uses a blood pressure cuff and ultrasounds device
for this painless test.
A healthy ABI result is 1.00 or greater. If you
have an ABI of less than 0.90 while resting, you
may have PAD. An ABI of less than 0.40 is a sign
of severe PAD. If there are problems with
the arteries in your ankle, your provider may do
a toe-brachial index (TBI) test instead, which
measures the blood pressure in your big toe. A
TBI less than 0.7 is abnormal. Be
aware of your ABI, just as you know and keep
track of your blood pressure numbers.
To diagnose PAD, your provider may also order
some of the following tests and procedures:
Blood tests check
your cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood
sugar levels.
An exercise ABI test shows the
severity of your leg symptoms and the level
of physical activity that produces them.
Your provider will do the ABI test after
having you walk on a treadmill. This test
may help them diagnose PAD when you have
symptoms but your resting ABI test result is
only slightly low. A drop of 20% or more in
a post-exercise ABI is abnormal.
A 6-minute walking test measures
how far you can walk in a hallway in 6
minutes. Your provider may do this test to
see how much PAD affects your ability to
function and how serious your PAD is.
Doppler ultrasound locates areas of
reduced blood flow or blockages and measures
how fast blood is flowing through the
arteries. A handheld device is passed over
your skin, and a computer converts sound
waves into pictures of the blood flow in
your arteries. Ultrasound can help diagnose
PAD and monitor how well treatments for the
condition have worked.
Segmental Doppler pressure testing checks
different parts of your legs for narrowed or
blocked arteries. This method is similar to
ABI testing but uses blood pressure cuffs
placed at thigh, calf, and ankle levels. The
ultrasound device amplifies the sounds of
blood flow in your arteries, making it
easier to measure the blood pressure in
these areas of your leg.
Your provider may also order an imaging test
using angiography to get a better picture of the
blood vessels in your legs and feet. There are
several types of angiography:
Computed tomography angiography (CTA) allows
providers to see the arteries in your legs
and feet. A special dye is injected, and
then X-rays are taken to show the location
and extent of any blood vessel blockages.
Magnetic resonance angiography(MRA) examines
the structure of your leg arteries. MRA
tests may not be safe for people who have
metal implants in their body.
Catheter-based angiography lets
providers see inside the arteries of your
legs. A doctor inserts a catheter, or tube,
into an artery in your groin and guides it
to the affected area. A special dye is
released through the catheter and then
X-rays are taken. Your provider may suggest
this procedure for serious pain in the legs
or feet or when treatments
for PAD have not worked or other testing
has not been helpful.
Causes and Risk Factors
What causes PAD?
Atherosclerosis is the
main cause of PAD.
Atherosclerosis is a disease in which a waxy
substance called plaque builds up on the inner
lining of arteries. Plaque is made up of fat,
cholesterol, fibrous tissue, and calcium. In
PAD, plaque may reduce or fully block the flow
of oxygen-rich blood through arteries to the
body’s vital organs and the limbs.
This health topic focuses on PAD in the legs and
feet, but other types of PAD block blood flow to
the brain, kidneys, or the intestines. A person
may have atherosclerosis in just a single artery
or in many.
What raises the risk of PAD?
You may have a higher risk of lower extremity
PAD because of your age, family history and genetic,
lifestyle habits, other medical conditions,
race, ethnicity, and sex. The risk factors for
PAD are mostly the same as those for coronary
heart disease and carotid artery disease,
which are also caused by atherosclerosis.
Age
You can develop PAD at any age, but your risk
goes up as you get older. Most people in the
United States who have PAD are age 65 or older.
Worldwide, the age group for PAD is younger
(ages 45 to 49) in countries with lower incomes
when compared with high-income countries.
Family history and genetics
A family history of PAD, heart disease, stroke,
or blood vessel disease, such as some types of vasculitis,
raises your risk of PAD. Researchers are
studying genes variations
that seem to increase the risk of PAD or could
make the disease worse.
Genetic studies have found that certain gene
variations are found in different types of
atherosclerotic diseases, such as PAD, carotid
artery disease, and coronary
heart disease. An example is the gene
variation that is found in factor V Leiden
disorder, a specific gene mutation that leads to
an increased risk of blood clots.
Lifestyle habits
Over time, unhealthy lifestyle habits can lead
to plaque buildup in the leg and foot arteries,
causing PAD. These habits may include the
following:
Smoking or regularly breathing in secondhand
smoke damages your blood vessels,
raises your blood pressure, and causes
unhealthy cholesterol levels. The nicotine
in tobacco also makes your blood vessels
tighten and reduces blood flow in your
legs. Quitting
smoking is a very important step in
lowering your risk of PAD.
Not getting enough physical activity can
make other PAD risk factors worse.
Stress can make your arteries
tighten and narrow.
Eating foods high insaturated
fatsand
following other unhealthy eating patterns
can also increase your risk of PAD. Butter,
palm and coconut oils, cheese, and red meat
have high amounts of saturated fat.
Other medical conditions
Medical conditions that raise your risk of
developing PAD include:
Unhealthy blood cholesterol levels or high
blood triglycerides
Also, if you had preeclampsia or gestational
diabetes during pregnancy, you have a higher
risk of developing PAD later in life.
Race or ethnicity
African American people have a higher risk of
PAD than people of other races or ethnicities.
African Americans are also more likely to have
complications of PAD, such as problems walking
or loss of a limb.
Additionally, American Indian women have a
higher risk of PAD than white or Asian American
women do. Hispanic or Latino people and white
people have similar risk levels. However, NHLBI
research found that rates of lower extremity PAD
are higher among Hispanic and Latino adults who
have highly sedentary lifestyles, even when they
do not have any other risk factors.
Sex
Men and women have a similar risk of developing
PAD, but PAD affects men and women differently.
Women are more likely than men to have PAD
without symptoms. However, women also frequently
have more PAD complications, such as problems
walking.
How can you prevent PAD?
To help you prevent PAD, your provider may talk
to you about heart-healthy
lifestyle changes and managing conditions
that may lead to PAD.
Heart-healthy lifestyle changes include quitting
smoking, choosing a heart-healthy
eating pattern (such as the DASH
eating plan), being
physically active, aiming
for a healthy weight, and managing
stress.
Follow your provider’s advice about preventing
and treating conditions that raise your risk of
PAD, such as diabetes, high
blood pressure, and high
blood cholesterol.
Treatment
The goals of treatment for peripheral artery disease (PAD)
are:
Manage symptoms, such as leg pain, so exercise is
comfortable.
Improve artery health to reduce the risk of heart
attack, stroke and other complications.
Treatment for peripheral artery disease may include:
Lifestyle changes.
Medicine.
Surgery.
Lifestyle changes can help improve symptoms, especially if
you have early peripheral artery disease. Such changes
include:
Don't smoke or use tobacco.
Get regular exercise.
Eat a healthy diet.
Heart-healthy lifestyle changes
Your provider may recommend that you adopt
lifelong heart-healthy lifestyle changes:
Quit smoking. Smoking
is the main risk factor of PAD. Quitting can
reduce your symptoms and your
risk of complications. It is also important
to avoid secondhand smoke. Visit Smoking
and Your Heart and the National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute’s Your
Guide to a Healthy Heart. Although these
resources focus on heart health, they
include basic information about how to quit
smoking. For free help and support to quit
smoking, call the National Cancer
Institute’s Smoking Quitline at
1-877-44U-QUIT.
Choose heart-healthy foods, such
as those in the DASH
eating plan. A heart-healthy eating plan
includes fruits, vegetables, and whole
grains and limits saturated fats, sodium,
added sugars, and alcohol.
Aim for a healthy weight. If
you have overweight, losing
just 3% to 5% of your current weight can
help you manage some PAD risk factors, such
as high blood cholesterol and diabetes.
Losing even more weight can lower your blood
pressure.
Get regular physical activity. Staying
physically active can help you manage PAD
risk factors such as high blood cholesterol,
high blood pressure, and overweight or
obesity. Before starting any exercise
program, ask your provider what level of
physical activity is right for you.
Manage stress. Learning
how to manage stress, relax, get
good-quality sleep, and cope with problems
can improve your emotional and physical
health.
Exercise programs
Physical activity often works well to relieve
PAD symptoms and improve your ability to walk
and carry out daily activities. Regular physical
activity can improve the circulation in your
legs. Exercise can reduce inflammation and
help your blood vessels work better.
Supervised exercise
Your provider may recommend a supervised
exercise program that takes place in a clinic or
a hospital. The exercise program may be part of
a more complete cardiac
rehabilitation program.
PAD exercise programs usually meet at least 3
times a week and last between 3 months and 9
months. The most common type of exercise in
these programs is treadmill walking. Other
programs may use a device to exercise the upper
body. Talk with your provider about your options
for exercise programs.
Home exercise programs
Your provider may recommend a home-based
exercise program with coaching that is similar
to a supervised exercise program in a clinic.
Home-based programs usually involve walking
outside instead of on a treadmill. Your provider
will talk with you to help you understand how to
follow the program. Each exercise session lasts
30 to 50 minutes. The goal is to work up to at
least 30 minutes of continuous walking.
These programs include health coaching or
activity monitors. Some home-based programs
include regular check-ins with a coach by
telephone. Talk with your provider regularly
about your progress.
Medicines
If you have symptoms or complications of peripheral artery
disease (PAD), you may need medicines.
Medicine to treat peripheral artery disease may include:
Statins. These are medicines to lower "bad"
cholesterol. They help reduce plaque buildup in the
arteries. The drugs also lower the risk of heart attacks
and strokes.
Blood pressure medicines. Uncontrolled high
blood pressure can make arteries stiff and hard. This
can slow the flow of blood. If you have high blood
pressure, your healthcare professional may suggest
medicines to control it. Ask your healthcare team what
your blood pressure should be.
Diabetes medicine. Diabetes makes you more
likely to get PAD. Talk with your healthcare team about
your blood sugar goals and how to reach them.
Medicines to prevent blood clots. Reduced blood
flow in PAD can cause blood clots. Aspirin or another
medicine, such as clopidogrel (Plavix), may be used to
prevent blood clotting.
Leg pain medicine. A medicine called cilostazol
can be used to treat leg pain in people with peripheral
artery disease. The medicine increases blood flow to the
area.
Procedures or surgery
Sometimes, a surgery or procedure is needed to treat peripheral artery
disease (PAD) or its symptoms.
Thrombolytic therapy. If a blood clot is blocking an
artery, medicine may be given directly into the affected artery to
dissolve the clot.
Angioplasty and stent placement. If a narrowed artery is
causing PAD leg pain, this treatment may help. A tiny balloon on a
tube, called a catheter, is placed in the artery. The balloon
inflates, which makes the artery wider. This improves blood flow. A
small wire mesh tube, called a stent, may be placed in the artery to
keep the artery open.
Bypass surgery. This surgery creates a new path for blood
to flow around a blocked or partially blocked artery. A surgeon
takes a healthy blood vessel from another part of the body. The
vessel is connected below the blocked artery. The new pathway
improves blood flow to the muscle.
Living With
PAD is a lifelong medical condition. Once you
have been diagnosed with
PAD, you will see a healthcare provider
regularly who specializes in vascular (blood
vessel) diseases. You will need to take steps to
prevent complications. Learn more about the
warning signs of a medical emergency related to
PAD below.
How can PAD affect your health?
PAD can lead to complications, such as the
following:
Trouble managing daily activities without
help because of reduced mobility
Chronic (long-term) poor blood flow in your
leg: This is called critical limb
ischemia and is another complication of PAD.
Symptoms may include pain during rest,
sores, infections, and death of tissue,
called gangrene, because of lack of blood
flow. Gangrene is a severe complication that
may require amputation (surgical removal) of
the affected body part.
Serious infections: These can
develop as a result of sores on your feet
that then get infected. Infections in the
foot can usually be treated with
antibiotics, but you may have to be treated
in the hospital if the infection is serious.
The infection can also spread to your
tissues and muscles, to the bone, or into
the bloodstream. Infections in the
bloodstream need to be treated right away in
the hospital. The risk of these
complications is higher for people who have
PAD and diabetes.
A sudden drop in blood flow to your leg: This
is called
acute limb ischemia and is a serious medical
emergency. Call
9-1-1 or seek medical help right
away if you suddenly lose feeling in your
foot and cannot move it and if it is blue or
paler and colder than the other foot. Quick
treatment may save your limb.
People who smoke or have diabetes have a much
higher risk of complications from PAD, including
the risk of losing a limb. Lower your risk by quitting
smoking and managing
your diabetes.
If you have PAD, you probably have plaque
buildup in your other arteries, including
arteries in your heart and brain. Over time,
plaque buildup can lead to coronary
heart disease, heart
attack, or stroke.
If you have PAD, talk to your healthcare
provider about ways to lower your risk of these
conditions.
Manage your condition
It is important to get routine medical care and
to take all medicines as your provider
prescribes them.
Talk with your provider about how
often you should schedule office visits and blood
tests or other tests.
Call your provider’s office between visits if
you start to have leg pain that does not go
away after a few minutes of rest or if any
other PAD symptoms get worse. Changes in symptoms could
be a sign of PAD complications.
Get recommended vaccines, including
the pneumococcus and influenza (flu) shots,
every year at the start of flu season.
Anyone who lives with you or whom you see
often should also get regular vaccines.
Follow up with your doctor regularly to check
your risk
factors, monitor symptoms, and
assess your legs and feet.
Lifestyle and home remedies
There are things you can do to help manage peripheral artery
disease (PAD). Try these tips to manage PAD and stop
symptoms from getting worse:
Don't smoke or use tobacco. Smoking damages the
arteries. It increases the risk of peripheral artery
disease. If you have PAD, smoking can make the condition
worse. If you smoke and need help quitting, ask your
care team about methods that can help.
Get regular exercise. Regular exercise is an
important part of peripheral artery disease (PAD)
treatment. Exercise helps improve blood flow to the arms
and legs. So it can improve symptoms of PAD.
Usually, healthcare professionals recommend supervised
exercise therapy for people with PAD. It's a program of
exercise and education. It can help increase the
distance you can walk pain-free.
Eat nutritious foods. Choose plenty of fruits,
vegetables and whole grains. Reduce sugar, salt and
saturated fats.
Check medicine labels. Products that contain
pseudoephedrine (Advil Cold and Sinus, Claritin D,
others) are often used to treat a stuffy nose due to
allergies or colds. But this ingredient tightens blood
vessels. It may increase PAD symptoms.
Check leg position. Try sleeping with the head
of the bed raised a few inches. Keeping the legs below
the level of the heart usually reduces pain. Some people
find that hanging their legs over the edge of the bed or
walking may temporarily reduce leg pain.
Foot care
It's important to take good care of your feet. PAD can make
it harder for cuts and sores on the lower legs and feet to
heal. This is especially true if you have PAD and diabetes.
Here is how to properly care for your feet:
Wash your feet every day. Dry them completely.
Use moisturizer on the feet to prevent cracks that can
lead to infection. But don't moisturize between the
toes. This can help fungus grow.
Wear thick, dry socks and well-fitting shoes.
Quickly treat any fungal infections of the feet, such as
athlete's foot.
Take care when trimming your toenails.
Check your feet daily for cuts, sores or other injuries.
See a healthcare professional if you find any.
Have a foot doctor, called a podiatrist, treat bunions,
corns or calluses.
Women and PAD
Some conditions during pregnancy, such as preeclampsia,
a high-blood pressure disorder, or gestational
diabetes, high blood sugar during pregnancy,
can raise a woman’s risk of developing PAD later
in life.
PAD symptoms may be worse for women than for
men. Women who have PAD often cannot walk as far
or as fast as men who have PAD. They also report
lower quality of life than men do, possibly
because walking and other daily activities are
hard. Depression is also more common in women
with PAD than it is in men with the same
disease.
Diseases linked with PAD
People who have PAD often have lifestyle habits
and other factors, such as family history, that
make it more likely they have developed or will
develop other diseases related to atherosclerosis.
Those diseases may include:
If you have PAD with symptoms, your provider may
want to use ultrasound to screen you for abdominal
aortic aneurysm.
Control your blood pressure
If you have high
blood pressure, there are some steps you can
take to prevent or delay complications caused by
high blood pressure:
Follow your treatment
plan.
Get regular follow-up care.
Learn how to monitor your condition at home.
Tell your provider if you are planning to
become pregnant. They may adjust your
treatment plan as needed to lower or control
your high blood pressure.
Follow your diabetes care plan
If you have diabetes, your provider will
recommend lifestyle changes, including a special
eating plan, and may prescribe medicines to
manage blood sugar levels. Managing diabetes
carefully can lower your risk of complications.
Be alert for sores on your feet or legs and call
your provider if you see signs of an infection,
such as redness, swelling, pain, or pus, or if
you have a fever or chills. To treat sores, your
provider may prescribe antibiotics, clean the
sores, remove dead tissue with surgery, and
apply medicines and bandages to the area.
Manage your blood cholesterol levels
If you have unhealthy levels of blood
cholesterol, it is important that you continue
your treatment.
Follow-up care depends on your cholesterol
levels, your risk of complications such
as a heart attack or a stroke, and how you
respond to treatment.
Take care of your mental health
Living with PAD may cause fear, anxiety,
depression, and stress. You may worry about
having heart problems or making lifestyle
changes that are necessary for your health. Some
people become depressed because of problems with
walking and taking part in daily activities. PAD
might also lead to worry about the risk of
amputation.
By lowering stress levels and learning coping
skills, you may be able to live longer and
improve your quality of life. Talk with your
healthcare provider about how you feel. They may
recommend you take some steps to help you manage
stress, such as the following:
Join a patient support group. Taking
this step may help you adjust to living with
PAD. You can find out how other people
manage similar symptoms. Your provider may
be able to recommend local support groups,
or you can check with an area medical
center.
Seek support from family and friends. Letting
your loved ones know how you feel and what
they can do to help you can help relieve
stress and anxiety.
Talk to a professional counselor. If
you have depression or anxiety, your
provider may also recommend medicines or
other treatments that can improve your
quality of life.
Know when to call for help
PAD puts you at high risk of serious health
problems. If you think that you are having
symptoms of PAD, check with your provider. For
the following conditions, call
9-1-1 right away. Every minute matters.
Acute limb ischemia
Acute limb ischemia is a medical emergency that
must be treated rapidly to avoid amputation or
other serious problems. Seek medical help right
away if any of the following occur:
You cannot feel or move your foot.
Your leg or foot hurts or feels like “pins
and needles” while resting.
One foot is paler or colder than the other.
Bloodstream infection
When bacteria enter the blood from an infected
sore, they can cause a bloodstream infection.
Symptoms include fever and chills. Intravenous
(IV) antibiotics need to be given right away in
a hospital.
If a blood infection is not treated in time, or
if the immune system can’t control the
infection, the body’s inflammatory response
can lead to septic shock, which is dangerously
low blood pressure; organ failure; or even
death.
Bone infections
If you develop deep ulcers over bones, you are
at risk for a bone infection called osteomyelitis.
Symptoms include bone pain; excessive sweating;
fever and chills; swelling, redness, pain, and
warmth at the site of infection; and an open
wound that may show pus.
Treatment includes antibiotics, surgery to
remove infected bone, and procedures to improve
blood flow. You may need to stay in the hospital
for treatment.
Cellulitis
Cellulitis is a skin infection that can spread
to the deep tissues of the skin and muscle.
Symptoms include areas of the skin that are
warm, swollen, and tender. Cellulitis can also
cause fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, and
blisters.
Your provider may prescribe antibiotics to take
by mouth. If the infection gets worse or you get
very sick, you may need to stay in the hospital
for treatment.
Preparing for your appointment
If you have leg pain or other symptoms of peripheral artery disease
(PAD), make an appointment for a health checkup. You may need to see a
doctor trained in blood vessel diseases, called a vascular specialist.
Here's some information to help you get ready for your appointment.
What you can do
Learn what you need to do before your appointment. Ask if
there's anything you need to do in advance, such as restrict your
diet. For example, you may be told not to eat or drink for a few
hours before a cholesterol test.
Write down any symptoms you're having, including any that
may seem unrelated to peripheral artery disease.
Write down your medical information, including other
conditions you have and any family history of heart disease.
Bring a list of medicines with you to your appointment.
Include supplements and any medicines bought without a prescription.
Also include dosages.
Ask a family member or friend to go with you to the
appointment, if possible. An extra person can help you remember
details from the appointment.
Write down questions to ask your healthcare team.
For peripheral artery disease (PAD), some basic questions to ask your
healthcare professional are:
What's the most likely cause of my symptoms?
Are there other possible causes?
What types of tests do I need? Do these tests require any special
preparation?
Is peripheral artery disease temporary or long lasting?
What treatments are available? Which do you recommend?
What are the side effects of the treatment you are suggesting?
Are there any options to the treatment that you're suggesting?
What can I do on my own that might help me get better?
I have other health conditions. How can I best manage these
conditions together?
Are there any brochures or other printed material that I can take
home with me? What websites do you recommend?
Don't hesitate to ask any other questions.
What to expect from your doctor
A healthcare professional who sees you for peripheral artery disease
(PAD) might ask:
When did the symptoms start?
Do you always have symptoms, or do they come and go?
How bad are your symptoms?
Do your symptoms get worse when you exercise?
Do your symptoms get better when you're resting?
Did you or do you smoke or use tobacco? If yes, how often?
What you can do in the meantime
If you smoke, quit. Smoking increases the risk of peripheral artery
disease (PAD) and related conditions such as stroke and heart attack.
Smoking also can make existing PAD worse. If you need help quitting, ask
your care team for methods that can help.
Eating less saturated fat and adding more fruits and vegetables to your
diet are other things you can do to help prevent or manage PAD.