A common complication of high blood sugar or diabetes is damage to nerves throughout the body. This is known as peripheral neuropathy, and can cause debilitating pain, tingling, and other symptoms of anxiety in patients. Usually, symptoms of diabetic neuropathy begin in the legs and extend to the arms and other parts of the body. The persistently high blood sugar in diabetes causes nerve damage and degeneration in a number of different metabolic pathways. Our knowledge of metabolic disorders that are the root causes of diabetic nerve damage has increased dramatically. Unfortunately, there are currently few, if any, drugs specifically designed to treat the root cause of disease. For patients with symptoms of diabetic neuropathy, current treatment consists of strict blood sugar control and several medications that can relieve symptoms of diabetic neuropathy. Unfortunately, the current state of treatment is grossly inadequate for most patients with diabetic neuropathy.
There are a number of drugs in the research pathway that could potentially target multiple metabolic pathways associated with the development of diabetic neuropathy. When this drug is stopped, they can offer a unique therapy that aims to eliminate the cause rather than mask the symptoms of diabetic neuropathy.
Until this new class of drugs becomes available for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy, non-pharmaceutical interventions may provide better relief for diabetics with neurological complications.
Indeed, there are advances in the treatment of physical neuropathy that can currently benefit diabetic neuropathy patients. Let me share the results of a study by the John Hopkins team of surgeons and the results regarding the physical therapy profession in Australia. If you or someone you know has diabetic neuropathy, this test should be familiar to you.
But first we need a little lesson on how nerves physically behave in the body, as well as a little background on what can happen to nerves in people with diabetes. Once we understand the nature of these peripheral nerves, we can talk about the specific results of these two groups and how they benefit diabetics.
What happens to the nerves in your arms and legs when you reach, stretch, bend, walk, or simply move from one position or posture to another? This may not be something you have ever thought about, but it is important and important, especially for those with diabetic neuropathy. For a moment, think that nerves are very similar to cables that run through your body. Now imagine for a moment that your arms are folded at the elbows. The nerves in your arms are also flexed and have less tension in this position. But what do you think happens to those nerves when you reach for something from above?
Due to the change in position, the nerves first stretch and then tighten and mock. To prevent excessive stretching, which can damage nerves; The nerves also need to slip and move. This is a concept to keep in mind. so that healthy nerves shift and move with changes in the position of the body parts. This shift is important in preventing tension from building up on the nerves, which can cause damage.
In fact, using an imaging technique called high-resolution ultrasound, researchers actually measure the amount of slippage (they call it an excursion) that occurs in nerves when the body is moved to different positions. What we do know from this study is that the median nerve, which is one of the main nerves in the arm, and the tibial nerve, the main nerve in the leg, move between 2 and 4 mm when the body is placed in different positions. Now this may not seem like a huge amount of movement or slide, but it’s possible that if you stretched the nerve right around that amount, you would tear a lot of the fine fibers inside. So the idea at home is that this shear movement of nerves, even if they are small, is essential for continued nerve health. Anything that will reduce or limit this movement can damage, injure, or irritate individual nerves and nerve fibers.
So keep in mind that nerve movement or gliding is healthy for nerves. Repairing nerves or restricting movement can be dangerous.
How is all this related to diabetic neuropathy, which is caused by persistently high blood sugar? The same researchers who examined nerve movement found that nerve slip in diabetic patients was significantly less than nerve mobility in controls without diabetes. Although we do not know why the nerves move poorly in diabetic patients, these findings suggest that in addition to nerve damage from high blood sugar, patients with diabetic neuropathy may experience nerve irritation and microtrauma due to limited nerve resistance.
These observations prompted surgeons to develop surgical procedures to decompress and release the nerves trapped in the legs of patients with diabetic neuropathy. The results of this large clinical study are very encouraging. These results suggest that in addition to treating the symptoms of diabetic neuropathy with medication, the physical release of nerves in this patient’s leg can dramatically improve burning pain, numbness in the toes, and other symptoms of diabetic nerve complications.
The problem is surgery in general, and foot surgery especially for diabetics can be a risky business.
So the next logical question must be: is it possible to decompress the nerves in the leg that has been damaged by diabetes without surgery?
It looks like this.
A technique called nerve sliding, or sometimes nerve thread, can work. Basically, shear nerve treatment tries to move the jammed and pinched nerve to restore its normal motion. This technique consists of gentle stretching through fixed nerves. When the legs are extended, the patient bends and extends the head and neck at the same time. This results in movement with “threads” on either side of the nerve fixation. Over time, this mutual mobilization of nerves can destroy nerve adhesion and decompression. According to the nerve slippage theory, this type of nerve mobilization cannot decompress and restore the trapped nerve’s movement surgically.
Using high-resolution ultrasound to measure nerve excretion and movement, researchers were able to document once again that techniques for moving nerves and sutures with sutures can and can cause the nerves in the arms and legs to move and slide into this non-surgical procedure. .
This means that, at least in theory, patients with diabetic neuropathy could benefit from a flossing technique applied to the legs and feet. Because this technique can mobilize nerves by gently stretching and positioning the leg, it appears to be a potential new treatment option for patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Moreover, they are non-surgical and relatively safe with very little potential for injury. Nerve mobilization and gliding techniques can be potential alternatives to foot surgery for patients who are at high risk for diabetic neuropathy.