The PEDAL study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a 9-month intradialytic exercise training intervention designed to improve quality of life (QOL) and alleviate functional limitations in patients with stage 5 Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) who are on haemodialysis. Exercise rehabilitation will be compared against established treatment options available within UK NHS haemodialysis (HD) units. A qualitative substudy will also investigate the experience and acceptability of the intervention for both participants and members of the renal care team. In addition, we want to examine whether this type of additional exercise treatment is cost effective within the health service setting.

PEDAL is designed as a multi centre randomised clinical trial (RCT) and will recruit 380 adult patients who have been on HD for at least 3 months, from 10 HD sites located in Scotland, England and Wales. The type of exercise programming will consist of cycling exercise performed during each dialysis session plus a muscle conditioning programme performed twice per week. All exercise sessions will be supervised by a physiotherapy assistant. The exercise prescription will be individualised for all patients on the basis of their fitness and clinical status.

The main objective is to examine the impact of exercise rehabilitation on quality of life and well being of patients. We hypothesise that the exercise training delivered during haemodialysis treatment will significantly improve the functional limitations/abilities of the patients leading to the detection of clinically beneficial improvement in quality of life outcome, as measured by the KDQOL-36 physical composite score (PCS) at the primary end point.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Prevalent Stage 5 CKD patients (GFR <15 mL/min) receiving maintenance haemodialysis therapy for more than 3 months
2. Male or female
3. Aged >18 years
4. Able to provide written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Patients unlikely to be on HD for > 6 months - (this includes cachectic patients, those with severe heart failure, patients in whom dialysis withdrawal is being considered, and patients likely to receive a live-donor transplant or transfer to PD in that period of time);
2. Less than 3 months after the initiation of haemodialysis (patients in this time-frame are generally less clinically stable, many having vascular access procedures performed, and rates of inter-current events, including death and hospitalisation, are very much higher in the first 3 months after commencement of chronic haemodialysis);
3. Deemed to be clinically unstable by treating physician;
4. Dementia or severe cognitive impairment (as will be unable to give consent and/or complete questionnaire assessments);
5. Severe psychiatric disorders - except treated stable