Tactile Intervention as a Novel Technique in Improving Body Stability in Healthy Elderly and Elderly with Diabetes

Abstract

Background: Body sway increases in the elderly because of normal aging and high incidence of disease such as diabetes. Prevalence of sway is greater in the elderly with diabetes because of damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems. Increase in body sway is associated with an elevated risk of falling. Falling is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. The purpose of this study was to develop a new technique to improve body stability and decrease body sway in the elderly people with or without diabetes. Subjects and Methods: Twenty-two subjects-12 elderly (mean age, 75.5 -7.3 years) and 10 age-matched elderly with diabetes (mean age, 72.5 -5.3 years)-were recruited for this study. Subjects received tactile feedback as a tingling sensation resulting from electrical stimulation triggered by body sway. Results: The results showed a significant reduction in body sway in the elderly while standing on foam with eyes open (1.0 -0.31 vs. 1.9 -0.8; P = 0.006) and eyes closed (1.8 -0.7 vs. 3.3 -1.5; P = 0.001). In the group with diabetes, there was a significant reduction in body sway while standing on foam with eyes closed (1.4 -0.5 vs. 2.3 -0.8; P = 0.045) but not with eyes open. Conclusions: In this small study, this technique offers a new tool for training people with diabetes and elderly people to improve body stability and balance.

The Effect of Visual Feedback on Body Sway in the Elderly with Diabetes Compared to Elderly without Diabetes: Randomized Clinical Trial

“…These findings are supported by a previous study that examined the effect of tactile feedback on body sway [24]. The elderly group without diabetes had more improvement than the elderly group with diabetes.…”

“…The elderly group without diabetes had more improvement than the elderly group with diabetes. This suggests that the participants in the elderly group without diabetes responded better to tactile feedback because they had better peripheral somato sensory input than the participants in the elderly group with diabetes [24]. Petrofsky and colleagues conducted a study to assess the motor control during balance tasks in participants with diabetes [25].…”

Vision, Eye Disease, and the Onset of Balance Problems: The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

“…These findings suggest that more attention needs to be paid to balance problems in people with vision loss. Interventions to improve balance in groups with irreversible vision loss should be considered 35,36 .…”

Falls requiring visit to emergency room in a population-based cohort of diabetic patients in Italy

“…A number of other interventions that might reduce the risk of falls in elderly diabetic patients are described in the literature, from balance training 22 to newer strategies such as tactile intervention 23 or whole-body vibration training. 24 …”