Effect of a Combined Therapeutic Exercise Program on Neuropathic Pain and Perceived Quality of Life in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

This is a prospective, longitudinal, quasi-experimental study of repeated measures (pretest-posttest), has been approved by the research and ethics committee of the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous University of Yucatan, issuing a report on October 26, 2022. An identification form will be filled out that will include socio-demographic and clinical data: presence of type II diabetes, presence of neuropathy, sex, age, marital status, schooling, occupation, BMI, time of diagnosis, HbA1C, insulin use, medical treatment and a neurological examination of the extremities. The DN4 questionnaire will be used to evaluate neuropathic pain and its characteristics, the VAS will be used to evaluate the degree of intensity or severity of pain, and the SF-36 questionnaire will be used to evaluate perception before and after the combined exercise program. During the intervention stage, a therapeutic exercise program will be applied that will include two modalities: aerobic and resistance exercise in the facilities of the Unidad Universitaria de Inserción social de San José Tecoh. The duration will be 8 weeks with a frequency of 3 sessions per week, with a duration per session of 60 minutes each, to achieve the minimum total time suggested by the guidelines of 150 minutes per week. These exercises will be prescribed in three phases to increase times, series, repetitions and resistances in a progressive manner according to the Borg scale. For the analysis of the variables, the parametric Student's t-test for related samples or the nonparametric Wilcoxon test with significance at 95% reliability will be used. The implementation of the study can demonstrate significant improvements in the symptomatology of diabetic neuropathy, directly impacting on the perception of the quality of life of patients with type II diabetes.