Live with Diabetes
Diabetes is a growing health issue that affects approximately 24 million adults and children in the United States. If you have diabetes, a physical therapist can work with you to design a program that helps control your glucose and fight complications associated with diabetes such as loss of movement. While aerobic exercise is often recommended for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, a recent study found that adding high-force strength training to an aerobic program can offer significant advantages. A program designed by a physical therapist helped to improve glucose control, increase strength and reduce the risk of falls among study participants.
People with diabetes often have reduced muscle mass, and, as a result, mobility, resulting in a greater risk of falls. Adding resistance training to a diabetes treatment program leads to improved thigh lean tissue which, in turn, may be an important way to increase resting metabolic rate, protein reserve, exercise tolerance, and functional mobility. As experts in motion, physical therapists are ideally suited to help people with diabetes safely and effectively address their loss of movement.
Did you know?
Physical therapist-developed exercise programs can reduce athletes’ risk of injury by 41%*
*American Journal of Sports Medicine, August 2008