Evaluation of balance in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy after a 4-week functional and balance exercise program

Background: Balance is one of the basic needs in daily activities and has an important role in static and dynamic activities. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the balance of subjects with peripheral neuropathy after 4-weeks of functional and balance exercise program. Material and methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 22 diabetic patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (experimental group, n=11; control group, n=11) with the mean age of 53.79 years, mean height of 163.41cm, and mean weight of 71.49 kg, were randomly selected. Berg tests used to assess the patient's balance. Twelve sessions of combined training (balance and functional training) were used as intervention. A paired t-test was used for statistical comparison between preand post-test and independent t-tests were used to compare the experimental and control groups. Results: The paired sample t-test showed that training program has significant effect on functional and dynamic balance. The comparison between the two groups showed no significant deference between pre-functional balance tests and significant post-functional balance test after training program. Conclusion: Patients with diabetic neuropathy may have an impaired functional balance. The most important factor is the damage of proprioceptive receptors and combined training (balance and functional training) may improve balance by putting extra load on the visual system, vestibular and proprioceptive stimulation system. Hence, it can be recommended as an exercise to improve balance.