| خلاصه مقاله | Distal symmetrical sensorimotor polyneuropathy (DSPN) is one of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus which may lead to balance impairment, falling and its hazardous consequences. In order to design exercise interventions to improve balance and prevent falls in these patients, we need to achieve knowledge about the strategies that they adopt to maintain balance under different circumstances. Thus, the aim of our study was to evaluate the effects of dynamicity and width of the base of support (BOS) on balance control in people with DSPN.
Twenty seven patients with DSPN (14 female and 13 male, aged 54.9 ± 10.0 years) underwent balance tests. To assess static balance, participants were asked to stand quietly, for 30 seconds, on a force platform once while their feet were separated as wide as the width of the shoulders (FS) and another time when feet were placed together (FT). Dynamic balance, for both FS and FT conditions, was tested using an instrumented wobble board placed on the force platform. Sway area (SA), anteroposterior sway (APS) and mediolateral sway (MLS) were measured as balance parameters. We used a two-way repeated measure analysis of variances for statistical analysis.
Our results showed that there were significant interactions between dynamicity and width of the base of support for SA, APS and MLS (p< 0.05). Moreover, all measured balance parameters significantly increased as the BOS decreased during static conditions (p<0.05). However, under dynamic conditions, all balance parameters significantly decreased when BOS was narrowed (p<0.05).
In conclusion, people with DSPN adopt different strategies to control balance under static and dynamic conditions when the BOS is either wide or narrow. This is an important issue to be considered when developing balance training programs. |