EFFECT OF GAIT TRAINING ON ANKLE JOINT CO-CONTRACTION IN DIABETIC PATIENTS WITHOUT NEUROPATHY

Diabetes is related to dysfunction and damage of various organs, especially blood vessels, nerves, and heart. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of gait training on ankle joint co-contraction in diabetic patients with without neuropathy.

The method of the present study was quasi-experimental. The statistical population of the present study included 24 people who were randomly and equally divided into experimental and control groups, 12 in each. The experimental group performed walking exercises for 8 weeks and the control group did not do any activity during this period. To calculate the general and directed co-contraction, first the electromyography activity of the Gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior muscles was recorded by an 8-channel electromyography device (Bio System, UK) with a surface electrode. Biometrics Data LITE software and a filter pass between 10 and 450 Hz was used to record. To normalize the electromyography signals, the root mean square (RMS) information of each muscle was divided by the maximum isometric maximum co-contraction of that muscle to normalize the data and then multiplied by one hundred. Then, the data of the two groups were statistically analyzed by two-way analysis of variance using SPSS software version 24.

The results showed that the general co-contraction during the loading phase in the experimental group in the post-test phase increased significantly compared to the pre-test. There was a significant decrease in the experimental group compared to the pre-test group in mean directed co-contraction during loading phase (p = 0.001), support (p <0.001), toe off (p = 0.008) and swing (p = 0.001) and was close to zero.

The results of the present study showed that gait Trainings are effective on general and directional ankle joint co-contraction in diabetic patients without neuropathy, and increased co-contraction in the ankle joint, which can have beneficial effects on joint stability during walking.