‘Why is walking therapy good?’
Shop windows. It sounds nicer than it is. It is estimated that a small million Dutch people suffer from it. Vascular surgeon Joep Teijink tells more about this in seven answers.
1. What are display legs, and why are they called that?
You get display legs when the arteries in and to your legs are narrowed or closed by atherosclerosis, or arteriosclerosis. Less blood flows to the leg muscles, which therefore do not get enough oxygen and hurt. In order for the pain to subside, patients have to stand still. They sometimes go and look in a shop window to give themselves an attitude; that’s why we call this shop window legs.”
2. How do you know you have them?
“You feel pain in the legs after exercise. This pain will subside after taking a few minutes of rest. The pain feels different for everyone. Some have cramps, others aching pain. The pain is in a muscle group, for example in the calf, the thigh or the buttock muscle. The GP makes the diagnosis on the basis of the complaints and measuring the blood pressure on both arms and both ankles.”
3. How bad is it to have display legs?
“You cannot die from display legs themselves, but you do have a lower age expectation than someone without display legs. The cause of the misery, arteriosclerosis, is found throughout the body, including in the arteries from the heart or to the brain. If they get less oxygen, it can be deadly. People with display legs are therefore more likely to die from a heart attack or cerebral infarction (stroke).”
4. Which treatments can you choose?
“There are various treatments, such as walking therapy, angioplasty or a bypass. Guided walking therapy is the first choice according to doctors, because it is aimed at healthier living. This is an extensive 12-month process. After the diagnosis, your GP will refer you to a specialized physiotherapist. The physiotherapist will look at what is bothering you and what is causing it. He not only looks at how you can solve the complaints yourself, but also at risk factors, such as smoking and poor nutrition. He helps you find a new lifestyle. You should see the therapist two to three times a week for the first few weeks. He makes an exercise plan that trains on condition, strength and balance. Together with the physiotherapist and the general practitioner, you determine after at least three months whether it has helped enough. If not, you still need to see a vascular surgeon.
After additional examination, the vascular surgeon will consider whether, and if so, what kind of surgery you could have. Other treatment options are angioplasty or the construction of a bypass. With angioplasty, the narrowing in the blood vessel is stretched with a balloon. A bypass means that the blood is led in a detour past the closed vessel.”
5. Why do you say: opt for walking therapy?
“Because it’s the best treatment. With guided walking therapy you work on improving the general condition, you also train the heart and lungs and the unaffected leg. So you run less risk of a heart attack or stroke. In addition, attention is paid to strength training and balance improvement. All factors that contribute to a better quality of life – you will feel better and fitter. This also applies to advice and guidance on a healthy lifestyle, such as help with smoking cessation, a healthy diet and daily exercise. Guided walking therapy and angioplasty work about equally well against the complaints of display legs, such as pain when walking. But with angioplasty there is a small risk of complications, while with gait therapy there is not. An important reason to be reluctant to intervene is that angioplasty leads to angioplasty. Once you start operating on blood vessels, scarring often develops, which can cause the vessel to close again and require surgery again. By the way: gait therapy does not rule out the need for surgery in the long run. One in five people who have had walking therapy will have surgery later on.”
6. This physiotherapy is very intensive. Not everyone sees that.
“It is true that walking therapy takes a lot of effort and that you only notice results after a few weeks, while there is immediate result after angioplasty. But it also pays off a lot. You get in better shape. Furthermore, there is less chance of falling, you get help with smoking cessation and learning a better diet. And with that a longer and healthier life!”
7. What is the best thing to do if you want to avoid display legs?
“No smoking, no smoking and no smoking. And also plenty of exercise and healthy nutrition. Smoking is the biggest risk factor for display legs. Eighty percent of people with display legs have smoked or are still smoking. It’s never too late to quit smoking. And in addition, you have to keep moving, eat healthy and try to be positive in life. In any case, ingredients for a happy(er) life.”
Want to know more about display legs?
come to the National Health Fair in the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht from 7 to 10 February 2019.
Professor Joep Teijink is a vascular surgeon at the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven and founder of ClaudicatioNet, the national network for guided gait training and lifestyle guidance. He knows all about display legs (called ‘intermittent claudication’ by doctors). Teijink is a strong advocate of walking therapy instead of surgery for shop windows.
This article originally appeared in Plus Magazine January 2019. Not yet a Plus Magazine subscriber? Becoming a subscriber is done in no time!
Sources):
- Plus Magazine
