Choosing a Rehabilitation Program

Posted: May 1, 2004

Walking in a park or walking through a store to get your groceries are activities that most of us take for granted, but if you suffer from peripheral vascular disease, simple daily activities like these can become difficult or even impossible.

What is PVD?
Peripheral vascular disease, or PVD, is a condition where the arteries in your legs are narrowed or clogged by the build up of plaque, making it difficult for the blood to circulate. This condition often causes painful leg cramping, usually when walking. It is this painful cramping, called claudication, which inhibits daily living and other activities.

Symptoms for PVD include:

• Leg or hip pain while walking
• Pain that stops with rest
• Numbness in legs
• Tingling in legs
• Weakness in legs
• Burning or aching pain in feet or toes while resting
• Sores on legs or feet that won’t heal
• Cold legs or cold feet
• Changing skin color in the legs or feet
• Loss of hair on legs

Risk Factors
It is estimated that as many as 10 million Americans suffer from PVD, and of those, approximately 4 million suffer from leg pain. You might be more at risk for PVD if you:

• Are over the age of 50
• Smoke
• Are diabetic
• Are more than 25 pounds overweight
• Do not exercise
• Have high cholesterol, or
• Have high blood pressure

While suffering from PVD is painful enough, having PVD puts a person at much greater risk for heart disease and coronary artery disease. Additionally, the build-up of plaque in the arteries, which usually causes PVD, is a leading cause of amputations in the United States. While PVD is a very serious medical condition and cannot be cured, it is fortunately, a treatable condition. However, if left unchecked, it will progress.

Treatment for PVD
At Columbia St. Mary’s, we have an innovative program to help PVD sufferers gain back their independence and return to their daily routines. Our Vascular Wellness and Rehabilitation Program is the only one of its kind in Milwaukee, and it could help alleviate your leg pain and prevent your condition from getting worse.

If your physician has referred you to our PVD Rehabilitation program, you can expect:

• To be well cared for in a treatment program that is designed especially for you
• To learn how to manage your disease
• To receive a dietary analysis and consult with a dietitian if appropriate
• To be carefully monitored throughout the rehabilitation process so that any other health factors, such as diabetes, will be addressed
• To receive support for smoking cessation if appropriate
• To receive one-on-one attention and you will be treated as a whole person

Our multi-disciplinary program will introduce you to exercise, and we will work with you so that your exercise levels can increase. Your muscles will grow stronger through rehabilitation, and your increased endurance will allow you to return to some of your daily activities.
Because PVD rehabilitation can be challenging and at times, even painful, we will teach you special relaxation techniques to alleviate your discomfort and increase your stamina.

While PVD can interfere with your daily life, with the help of rehabilitation, you can manage this chronic disease and reclaim your life.

Our program, which begins with three months of rehabilitation, is covered by many insurance plans. If you think you may benefit from this program, talk with your physician about receiving a referral. Your physician may contact us at Columbia St. Mary’s Vascular Wellness and Rehabilitation Program on the Columbia Campus at (414) 961-3439 or the Ozaukee Campus at (262) 243-7405.

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