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The effect of exercise on neuropathic symptoms, nerve function, and cutaneous innervation in people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy
Journal of Diabetes and its Complications,
Kluding PM et al. – This is the first study to describe improvements in neuropathic and cutaneous nerve fiber branching following supervised exercise in people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. These findings are particularly promising given the short duration of the intervention, but need to be validated by comparison with a control group in future studies.
Methods- A pre-test post-test design was used to assess change in outcome measures following participation in a 10-week aerobic and strengthening exercise program.
- Seventeen subjects with diagnosed DPN (8 males/9 females; age 58.4±5.98; duration of diabetes 12.4±12.2years) completed the study.
- Outcome measures included pain measures (visual analog scale), Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI) questionnaire of neuropathic symptoms, nerve function measures, and intraepidermal nerve fiber (IENF) density and branching in distal and proximal lower extremity skin biopsies.
- Significant reductions in pain (-18.1±35.5mm on a 100mm scale, P=.05), neuropathic symptoms (-1.24 ±1.8 on MNSI, P=.01), and increased intraepidermal nerve fiber branching (+0.11±0.15 branch nodes/fiber, P=.008) from a proximal skin biopsy were noted following the intervention.
