Lower-limb muscle strength according to bodyweight and muscle mass among middle age patients with type 2 diabetes without diabetic neuropathy.
Fuminari Asada, Takuo Nomura, Mitsuo Tagami and 3 others
PMID 28744042WHAT IT FOUND
Middle-aged adults with type 2 diabetes, without neuropathy, did not differ in absolute knee and ankle strength from controls.
Strength relative to bodyweight and leg muscle quality were lower.
Key findings
01Absolute knee extension force, ankle dorsiflexion force, and total leg muscle force were not significantly different between groups.
02Compared with controls, the diabetes group had 15.8% lower knee extension strength relative to bodyweight and 18.7% lower ankle dorsiflexion strength relative to bodyweight.
03Leg muscle quality was 11.5% lower in the diabetes group, while leg muscle volume and whole-body skeletal muscle volume were not significantly different.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The diabetes group had higher bodyweight and body mass index than the control group, and the authors note that normalizing strength to bodyweight can make results harder to interpret in groups with high body mass index. The study did not survey occupation details, past exercise habits, type of exercise habit, or dietary habits, so these factors could influence strength. The study excluded people with neuropathy, dialysis, proliferative retinopathy, locomotion disease, or heavy exertion jobs, so it may not apply to those groups. The study did not test an intervention, so it cannot show what treatment would improve strength.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that diabetes caused a general loss of lower-limb strength. The raw knee and ankle forces were not significantly different, and the lower values were mainly seen after adjusting for the diabetes group's higher bodyweight.