People suffering from a medical condition causing poor circulation, especially in their legs, can improve their health with a program of home-based walking exercise, and such a routine is one they'll find easier to stay with over a long term, a study at Northwestern University found.

The circulatory disease, known as peripheral artery disease or PAD, affects one out of every 20 people in the U.S. age 50 and older, data from the National Institutes of Health indicates.

Previous studies have shown sessions of treadmill walking can bring improved blood flow for people experiencing PAD and increase their endurance, those studies involved patients who conducted those sessions at a clinic or hospital.

Researchers at Northwestern University say they decided to see if home-based walking programs could increase people's motivation to stick with a walking regime by removing the necessity of having to travel to a clinic or hospital for medically-supervised walking workouts as often as three times a week.

In the study, 194 people suffering from PAD were divided into two groups, one participating in a controlled program of walking exercise in the home, and the other doing no exercise.

Before the study began participants were tested to see how fast they could walk from one end of a 100-foot hallway to the other for six minutes, then the test was given again a year later at the study's conclusion.

The researchers found at the study's end that people in the home exercise program walked faster and farther -- 1,325 feet compared to 1,166 feet -- than those in the non-exercising group.

Developing a set routine with walking for an identical period of time each day likely had the greatest effect in motivating the walking group, the researchers said.

PAD, caused by buildup of plaque in leg arteries, increases the chances of stroke or heart attack.

Although there are medical treatments for it, including medications or implanting stents to open up the arteries, the new study suggests such procedures can be avoided or at least put off with a walking regiment, experts say.

Exercise ought to be the initial prescription given to a PAD patient, says Robert Patterson, a Brown University physician and researcher.

"There are too many people getting what I consider unnecessary stenting or too much stenting," Patterson says, telling them to consider setting aside 40 minutes for walking every day. "They come in, they complain, they get a stent that they will have for life." 

"When they first start I tell them they might walk 15 minutes and rest 25 minutes," he says. "After six or 12 weeks, they might be walking for 25 minutes and resting for only 15, the effects (of walking) can be dramatic."