Effects of Exercise on Dynamic Balance in People with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

This study aimed to investigate the impact of exercise on the dynamic balance in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients and identify the optimal exercise prescription for clinical practice. A comprehensive search was conducted across the Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane, and PubMed databases up to 10 November 2024, to identify randomized controlled trials assessing exercise interventions in T2DM patients, with dynamic balance as the primary outcome. Thirteen studies involving 413 participants were included. A pooled data analysis demonstrated that exercise significantly enhanced the dynamic balance (standardized mean difference, SMD, −0.50; p < 0.0001, I2 = 59%). The subgroup analyses revealed that multicomponent training (SMD, −0.84; p = 0.006, I2 = 76%), a frequency ≥ 3 times per week (SMD, −0.68; p < 0.0001, I2 = 57%), a session duration < 60 min (SMD, −0.52; p = 0.001, I2 = 67%), a weekly time ≥ 180 min (SMD, −0.64; p = 0.003, I2 = 65%), and supervised exercise (SMD, −0.59; p < 0.00001, I2 = 49%) were most effective. These findings suggest that supervised, multicomponent training performed at least three times weekly, with each session lasting <60 min, to attain a cumulative weekly time of 180 min, represents an evidence-based strategy to improve the dynamic balance in T2DM patients.