Vibrating Insoles for Diabetic Neuropathy

About one in three people with diabetes suffer from one of the complications – peripheral neuropathy. This commonly causes pain and numbness in the feet and sometimes the hands. The pain is felt as a tingling or burning sensation, while the loss of sensation feels as if one is wearing a thin sock. This latter effect may cause problems with balance, and help lead to falls.

A study due to appear in the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development will describe the use of vibrating shoe insoles in improving the numbness of peripheral neuropathy. Volunteers between 40 and 60 were tested for stability under 4 conditions – eyes open or closed, and with or without performing an attention-demanding task. Those subjects without any disability weren’t affected by the vibrations. The others, on the other hand, had improvement in stability measures when compensatory strategies were not available (e.g. eyes open, or not involved in a distracting task).

We’ll need to see the full report to determine the best use of the insoles. However, the pre-publishing press release promises some hope to people with this distressing complication of diabetes.