About a third of people over 50 with diabetes also have peripheral arterial disease (PAD), which can cause leg pain and make it tough to move around. A recent study suggests that walking on a treadmill is the exercise of choice for people with PAD, because it improves endurance. People in the study were randomly assigned to treadmill exercise, strength training, or a control group with no exercise program. By the end of the study, treadmillers were able to walk 118 feet farther on average during a six-minute walk than those in the control group, while strength trainers covered 41 feet more ground.
Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan. 14, 2009