Sensorimotor training improves gait, ankle joint proprioception, and quality of life in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy: A single-blinded randomized controlled trial

Objective To investigate the effect of Sensorimotor Training (SMT) on gait, ankle joint proprioception, and quality of life in Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN) patients. Design A prospective, single-blind, randomized controlled experiment was performed. Forty patients with DPN aged 50 to 65 yrs were distributed randomly into two groups, the SMT group (n = 20) and the control group (n = 20). Both groups attended awareness sessions about diabetes and foot care for 30 minutes, every two weeks. Moreover, the SMT group received 6wk (3 days/week) of SMT. Spatiotemporal gait parameters, proprioception accuracy of the ankle joint, and quality of life were measured before and after 6 weeks of intervention. Results Regarding baseline data, no significant differences were identified among groups (p > 0.05). After 6wk intervention, the SMT group exhibited significant improvements in all outcome variables (p < 0.001), while the control group showed significant changes in quality of life only (p = 0.03). Comparing groups after intervention reveals statistically significant differences in all measured variables in favor of the SMT group (p < 0.001). Conclusions Sensorimotor training may improve spatiotemporal gait parameters, ankle joint proprioception, and quality of life of patients with DPN.