The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between functional exercise capacity and general quality of life in patients with lower-extremity peripheral arterial disease (PAD) whose conditions are managed without surgical intervention and to establish new ways of measuring functional exercise capacity and general quality of life in this population. This descriptive survey examined 29 nonsurgical patients with lower-extremity PAD. Functional exercise capacity was measured with the 6-minute walk test. Quality of life was measured with the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF-36). All participants were either present or former smokers. Age ranged from 42 to 81 (M = 65). Walk test performance improved significantly from appointment 1 to appointment 2 (p = 0.01) but not from appointment 2 to appointment 3 (p = 0.9). All participants were able to finish all three walk tests for a total of 87 tests; however, in 30% (n = 26) of tests breaks were required because of leg pain. No one reported angina, and no syncope was observed. The SF-36 revealed significantly lower scores on the physical dimension scales and physical component summary (PCS) score in study participants as compared with a general population. Three physical dimension scales correlated significantly with walk test performance, as did the PCS score (r = 0.57, p = 0.001). In conclusion, functional exercise capacity correlated significantly with physical domains of general quality of life, whereas mental domains were unaffected. The 6-minute walk test was a safe, reliable measure of functional exercise capacity in the nonsurgical PAD population. By improving functional exercise capacity, physical abilities may improve. Thus the 6-minute walk test and SF-36 provide additional methods for objective measurement of the therapeutic impact of the nonsurgical management of PAD.