Diário de Dor e Alívio

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Whole Body Vibration: An Effective Treatment for Painful Diabetic Neuropathy

Gianni F. Maddalozzo*, Ruben J. Guzman, Roman V. Dvorak, Walker A. Maddalozzo, David A. Milroy and Rita S. Koshinski

Introduction:Painful diabetic neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes that affects multiple aspects of patients’ lives, severely limiting daily functions and quality of life. The aim of this case study was to evaluate the efficacy of whole body vibration (WBV) to reduce pain and thereby improve quality of life, walking speed, and general clinical characteristics.

Methods: A 63-year-female with type-2 diabetes and seven years of pain symptoms volunteered for a 12-week WBV intervention receiving 12-minutes of WBV per day, three days per week. Pain severity and its interference in daily life, 0-10 Numeric Rating Scale to assess pain immediately before and after WBV, quality of life, walking speed, body composition, general clinical characteristics and medication usage were assessed.

Results: Pain severity and interference decreased by approximately 5.0 points post-intervention reducing the participant’s pain levels from borderline severe to very mild. Pain levels immediately prior to and following WBV exposure decreased every week and continued to decrease throughout the intervention. The participant indicated at baseline that her foot pain had a significant impact on her ability to take part in leisure activities, made her physically dependent on others for help, significantly affected her relationships and her role in the family and significantly impaired her ability to perform activities of daily life. Post-intervention, she was able to take part in leisure activities, no longer felt dependent on others, improved her relationships and her role in the family and was now able to easily perform daily tasks. Her walking speed also improved by 13.7% thereby reducing her risk of death. Other beneficial changes included weight loss (15.91 kg) and decreases in fasting glucose, hypertriglyceridemia, lower limb and feet swelling, and hypertension while decreasing her daily intake of pain and diabetes medications.

Conclusion: WBV was effective at safely reducing pain and improving health related outcomes in our participant.