Effects of Task-Oriented Exercises on Improving the Balance, Minimizing the Risk of Fall in Patients with Diabetic Neuropathy- A Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy often demonstrates impairments in balance and thus an
increased risk for falls. This affects the both static balance and dynamic balance, but static balance is more
affected. Balance training is considered to be a very important tool for prevention of falls in older population.
It has been shown to produce improvements in different aspects of balance.
Objective: To find out the effect of task-oriented exercises on improving the balance and minimizing the
risk of fall in patients with diabetic neuropathy- a comparative study.
Methodology: 18 patients meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria were allocated into 2 groups. Group
A (n=8) received conventional Physiotherapy & Group B (n=10) received task-oriented exercises along with
conventional Physiotherapy.
Result: Result of this study showed that there is significant difference in pre and post values for both FFABQ
and BBS scales except for BBS the scores of group A no significant changes. On comparison between Group
A and Group B, the group B showed more improvement in FFABQ and BBS score than group A.
Conclusion: This study concluded that the Task-oriented exercises with Conventional Physiotherapy were
more effective in improving balance and reducing the fear of fall than with only conventional physiotherapy
in diabetic neuropathy patients after 3 weeks of duration.