INTRODUCTION: One of the most frequent complications in diabetes mellitus (DM) is diabetic neuropathy (DN), which leads to impaired skeletal muscle that can cause postural instability and risk of falls. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the balance of diabetic patients treated at the physical therapy department. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study with 25 diabetic subjects with a mean age of 60.88 ± 9.23 years old, at the Clinical School of Physiotherapy, Catholic University of Brasilia. We observed the static and dynamic balance of these patients through the F-Scan system and the Berg's Balance Scale (BBS), respectively, and to identify correlations between them. RESULTS: The study participants had no risk of falling by BSE, there were no associations between BSE and latero-lateral oscillations measured by the F-Scan and significant differences between BSE and anteroposterior oscillations. CONCLUSION: Although there were no balance changes in the F-Scan, subjects evaluated are out of the high risk of falling, even if the decreased sensitivity has generated a tendency to score lower on the BSE. This result suggests that physical therapy intervention is beneficial for the maintenance and/or improvement of body balance, thus reducing the risk of falls and increasing independence in activities of daily living (ADL).
Diabetes mellitus; Postural balance; Falls
