Designing and Development of Diabetic Exercise Mat and its Effect on Sensory Motor Dysfunction in Chronic Diabetic Individuals

Background: Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is one of the most common late complications of diabetic individual. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy causes peripheral sensory loss and motor deterioration. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to find the effect of conventional exercises on designed mat for sensory and motor dysfunction in chronic diabetic individuals. Materials and Methods: An experimental study was carried out using simple random sampling method during 1 year in Krishna Hospital. A total of 44 subjects were allocated into Groups A and B to receive conventional physiotherapy and exercise on designed mat, respectively. Protocol was conducted for 3 days per week for 6 weeks. Pre- and post-design was used for assessing the study. Results: Subjects were assessed for quantitative sensory testing (QST) and manual muscle testing (MMT). Between the groups, the QST values were for Groups A 4.40 ± 0.66 and B 3.59 ± 1.18 along with P = 0.0071. MMT ankle dorsiflexion values were for Groups A 4.27 ± 0.55 and B 3.90 ± 0.61 along with P <0.044, ankle plantar flexion values were for Groups A 4.31 ± 0.47 and B 3.95 ± 0.65 along with P = 0.04. Wrist flexion values were for Groups A 4.18 ± 0.50 and B 4.50 ± 0.51 along with P = 0.04. Wrist extension values were for Groups A 3.90 ± 0.61 and B 4.50 ± 0.59 with P = 0.002. Conclusion: This study concluded that both conventional exercises and exercise on designed mat showed significant improvement on QST and MMT. Thus, the study provided the evidence to support that exercises on designed mat are found to be more effective than conventional exercises