People with poor blood circulation in legs effectively use a home-based walking program, according to a new U.S. study.

Researchers say the home-based program may be more effective than hospital-based exercise, and may be a more cost-effective first-line treatment, the Newsmax Health reported.

Dr. Mary McDermott, a physician and professor at Northwestern University in Chicago told Reuters Health, “Symptoms of peripheral artery disease (PAD) are often not classic. A patient might just experience weakness in their legs or tiredness and both the doctor and the patient might think that it’s just a part of aging.”

There are few treatments for PAD – implanted stents to open the arteries or medication – and exercise. Past research has shown that treadmill walking can improve blood. But those studies focused on programs that required patients to go to a hospital or clinic, according to McDermott.

The researchers recruited 194 participants with clogged arteries in their legs and randomly assigned them to two groups for the year-long experiment. One group took part in a structured home-based exercise program, and the comparison group did not exercise.

At the end of the study people in the exercise program improved their six-minute walking distance by 87 feet. Those in the comparison group, on average, walked a distance 25 ft less than they had a year earlier.

Robert Patterson, a physician and clinical researcher at Brown University, told Reuters Health that exercise, which is considered a more conservative approach to managing peripheral artery disease, should be the first prescription PAD patients receive.

“There are too many people getting what I consider unnecessary stenting or too much stenting,” Patterson said. “They come in, they complain, they get a stent that they will have for life.”

If a patient tries exercise first and doesn’t see substantial results, they should then turn to the more aggressive approach of stenting, he said.

“I ask my patients to set aside 40 minutes every day to walk. When they first start I tell them they might walk 15 minutes and rest 25 minutes. After six or 12 weeks, they might be walking for 25 minutes and resting for only 15, the effects (of walking) can be dramatic,” he said.