Rationale for Graded Exercise
The following factors related to the body’s normal response to exercise are the basis for using a graded exercise program to improve the functional status of patients with chronic arterial insufficiency.
· Blood flow temporarily decreases during active contraction of a muscle, but the blood flow rapidly increases immediately after the contraction.
· After […]

Except with advanced disease, chronic arterial insufficiency caused, for example, by ASO or Raynaud’s disease is managed conservatively by medical and physical means and does not constitute a medical or surgical emergency.
Medical/Surgical Management
Medical management of chronic arterial insufficiency must be ongoing. Related medical disorders must be identified and treated. Diabetes and hypertension are commonly associated […]

Acute arterial occlusion often is a medical or surgical emergency. The resulting ischemia causes severe pain, the risk of tissue necrosis and local or systemic infection, and the possible need for amputation. The viability of the limb depends on the location and extent of the occlusion and the availability of collateral circulation.
Medical or surgical measures […]

· Palpation and comparison of pulses in the involved and uninvolved upper or lower extremities
· Skin temperature
· Skin integrity and pigmentation
· Tests for reactive hyperemia (rubor of dependence)
· Claudication time
· Ultrasonography, Doppler measurement of blood flow, transcutaneous oximetry
· Magnetic resonance angiography
· Arteriography
Skin Integrity and Pigmentation
Diminished or absent arterial blood flow to an extremity causes trophic […]