Analysis impact of proprioception and reactive balance in diabetic individuals

Diabetes Mellitus is commonly associated with peripheral neuropathy and sensory impairments that can affect proprioception and postural control, thereby increasing the risk of balance dysfunction and falls . Proprioceptive deficits may impair the ability to accurately perceive joint position ,while delayed reactive balance responses can compromise the ability to recover stability following unexpected perturbations . Although several studies has evaluated static balance in individuals with diabetes , limited research has examined both proprioception and reactive balance in this population.

This study is an observational , cross-sectional study with a total of 60 participants aged 40-65 years will be recruiting using convenience sampling, including 30 30 individuals with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and 30 age and sex matched non-diabetic individuals.

Functional lower limb proprioception will be assessed using a target toe-touch error test, and reactive balance will be evaluated using the forward stepping component of BESTest.

Outcome measures include proprioceptive error distance ,first step time , first step length , number of steps and balance recovery time .

The findings in this study may help identify impairments in proprioception and reactive balance among diabetic individuals and support the development of targeted physiotherapy interventions for fall prevention and balance rehabilitation.