Physical Therapy Management of Peripheral Artery Disease (Recorded Webinar)
Presented by Ellen Hillegass and Angela Campbell
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Nonfinancial: Ellen Hillegass is a volunteer with the Academy of Cardiovascular & Pulmonary PT of the APTA. She has no competing nonfinancial interests or relationships with regard to the content presented in this course.
Financial: Angela Campbell receives compensation from MedBridge for the production of this course. She is on the faculty at Springfield College, Rehab Essentials/enTandem, and UpToDate.com. There are no other relevant financial relationships.
Nonfinancial: Angela Campbell has no competing nonfinancial interests or relationships with regard to the content presented in this course.
This course is a recording of a previously hosted live webinar event. Polling and question submission features are not available for this recording. Format and structure may differ from those of standard MedBridge courses.
Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a disease resulting from the atherosclerotic process that similarly occurs in coronary arteries, causing myocardial infarctions (MI), and in carotid arteries, causing cerebrovascular accidents (strokes). Individuals with PAD are four to five times more likely to have other vascular issues such as an MI or stroke but are less understood for their risk of vascular disease and more known for their symptoms of claudication (pain on exertion in the legs that goes away with resting). With exercise-based physical therapy intervention, individuals with PAD and claudication pain have demonstrated improvement in walking distance and speed with fewer symptoms. However, these patients are less likely to be seen by physical therapy on an outpatient basis as their limitation is vascular and not orthopedic. Some of these patients eventually go on to be seen in cardiac rehabilitation. Patients limited in their walking due to claudication pain are a population that would benefit from physical therapy. Therefore, this webinar has been developed to help PTs learn about PAD, including the etiology, pathology, pathophysiology, symptoms, indications for exercise testing, and specifically, interventions that will improve their patients’ ability to walk without claudication pain.
Learning Objectives
- Relate the pathophysiology of peripheral artery disease (PAD) to the primary symptoms of the disease, including claudication leg pain
- Distinguish the lower extremity signs and symptoms of PAD from other sources of leg pain and perform an initial evaluation of a patient with PAD
- Assess exercise tolerance of a patient with PAD, incorporating evidence-based guidelines
- Develop interventions for patients with PAD to decrease their symptoms of claudication discomfort as well as aid in prevention of secondary PAD-related sequelae, such as amputation, heart attack, and stroke
- Determine patient response to PT plan of care using disease-specific, evidence-based outcome measures
- Formulate individualized management of PAD through comparing and contrasting various sample patient cases
Meet your instructors
Ellen Hillegass
Dr. Ellen Hillegass is a physical therapist with APTA board certification in the cardiovascular and pulmonary clinical specialty. She is currently a professor on the core faculty at South College Knoxville and South College Atlanta and is an adjunct professor at Mercer University in Atlanta in the department of physical…
Angela Campbell
Dr. Campbell is the current president of the Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Section of the American Physical Therapy Association and a professor of physical therapy at Springfield College. She received her DPT from Creighton University in 1996, became an ABPTS Board-Certified Cardiovascular & Pulmonary Clinical Specialist (CCS)…
Chapters & learning objectives
1. Peripheral Artery Disease: Etiology, Pathophysiology, and Signs/Symptoms
This segment will provide an overview of the etiology, pathophysiology, and signs and symptoms of PAD.
2. Peripheral Artery Disease: Diagnosis and Medical/Surgical Management
This segment will provide an overview of the etiology, pathophysiology, and signs and symptoms of PAD.
3. Peripheral Artery Disease: Calf Pain Differentiation and PAD Examination
This segment will provide the learner with evidence-based tools to differentiate claudication from other types of calf pain. A comprehensive examination schema for PAD will be presented.
4. Peripheral Artery Disease: Exercise Tolerance Assessment in PAD
This segment will provide clinicians with contemporary practice guidelines in exercise assessment in PAD. Correlations between exercise tolerance and function and quality of life will be presented, as well as adaptations for various settings and patient factors.
5. Peripheral Artery Disease: Interventions for Individuals With PAD
This segment will present contemporary clinical practice guidelines for exercise and other recommended health behaviors for PAD. Intervention impact on claudication, general lower extremity function, and secondary prevention of other atherosclerotic sequelae will be discussed.
6. Peripheral Artery Disease: Outcome Measures
Using patient case examples across the disease spectrum, clinicians will be able to differentially implement and interpret outcome measures for PAD.
7. Peripheral Artery Disease: Individualizing PAD Management Across the Disease Spectrum
Using patient case examples across the disease spectrum, clinicians will be able to individualize interventions for a person with PAD.
8. Question and Answer Session
This chapter is a viewer-submitted question and answer session facilitated by the instructors.