An experimental study of prescribed walking in the management of venous leg ulcers

Objective: To determine the relationship between the level of patient activity in the form of walking and the rate of venous leg ulcer (VLU) healing.Method: Forty patients with newly diagnosed VLUs were recruited to the study and randomly allocated to either control or exercise groups. All patients were treated with multilayer compression bandaging for 12 weeks, or until their ulcer had fully healed. Daily stepping rate was recorded at initial assessment and following 4 weeks of treatment. Participants in the exercise group were encouraged to increase their daily steps with a target of 10000 steps per day. The control group were not asked to change their daily steps.Results: In total, 33% of the exercise group achieved an average of 10000 steps per day. Participants who took more steps at both the baseline and 4-week assessment healed more quickly than those who took fewer steps (p=0.052 and p=0.008 for baseline and week 4, respectively). Sixty-seven per cent of the participants who increased their daily steps had venous ulcers, which were healed by week 8, compared with 35% of those who did not.Conclusion: Participants who took more steps per day showed faster venous ulcer healing times when compared with those who took fewer steps, emphasising the benefit of walking in this patient group. Further studies are necessary to confirm these early findings.Declaration of interest:There were no external sources of funding for this study. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.