Abstract

Advances in balance assessment and balance training for diabetes

Author(s): Bijan Najafi, Manish Bharara, Talal K Talal & David G Armstrong

As clinicians, we have been searching for objective and widely available outcome measures for our care. We also prefer these measuring processes not to burden our busy clinics or patients’ time. With this in mind, it seems that there are many challenges to treating patients with diabetes. Some of these are well recognized and some are not. For example, we know that balance deterioration affects this population. In addition, individuals with diabetes are more vulnerable to any minor trauma than a healthy individual. Any minor trauma causes a major wound, which can be very dangerous for this population. Thus preventive strategies for reducing the risk of falls in diabetes should be considered even before geriatric age. Evaluation of the risk of falling is a necessary step towards the provision of preventive measures. This paper reviews and provides a comprehensive outlook of current development and possible emerging technologies for addressing balance instability in diabetes.