Exercise Therapy for PAD Using Mobile Health

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a highly prevalent condition affecting up to 10% of Veterans that leads to loss of walking ability and increased risk of amputation. Veterans have limited access to supervised exercise therapy, a facility-based program proven to improve walking ability in PAD, which is poorly attended due to the inconvenience and cost of attending a 12-week program with multiple weekly sessions. This CDA-2 application will investigate the feasibility of home-based exercise therapy (HBET) delivered using mobile health (mHealth) technologies in Veterans with symptomatic PAD. We will partner with the MOVE! program to deliver HBET through group behavioral coaching and a novel wearable activity monitor in a newly proposed program called Smart MOVE!. There is a clear need to provide effective and convenient alternatives to supervised exercise for Veterans with PAD. This study will provide evidence to proceed with Smart MOVE!, a much-needed patient-centered rehabilitation program for Veterans with PAD.