Coastal Bend Chronic Pain Center, RSDS, Diabetes, Fibromyalgia, Asthma, Migraines, Corpus Christi

Home Doctors Diseases Treatments Testimonials

Diabetes Type 2

According to the American Diabetes Association, there are over 20.8 million children and adults in the United States, or approximately 7% of the population, who have diabetes. In addition, the U.S. spends over $132 billion a year on diabetes -- $13,242 on each patient with diabetes, compared with $2,560 per person for people who do not have diabetes -- measured in the direct and indirect costs of emergency room visits, expensive and extended hospitalizations, disability insurance costs, absenteeism and lost worker productivity. In addition, more than 5.5 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetic peripheral neuropathies. This process is progressive and can lead to increased risk of injury, infection, Charcot joints, and amputation. South Texas, with its high Hispanic population has a very high incidence of amputations. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is a common complication associated with diabetes. It increases with both age and duration of diabetes, and is present in more than 50% of Type 2 diabetic patients aged over 60 years. (1)

Testing for diabetic peripheral neuropathies is recommended on a regular basis such as monofilament testing at office visits. Routine neurological examinations such as light touch and pinprick sensation, though commonly used to test for neuropathies, have been found to be less sensitive to diagnose diabetic neuropathy than Vibration Perception Threshold testing (VPT). A recent study of diabetic type 2 patients showed that the VPT was elevated in 65% of the patients with sensory complaints but also in 20% of the patients without sensory complaints. (2)

In the past, there have not been effective treatments for this disease process, and the largely unsatisfactory results reported for the pharmacological treatment of diabetic neuropathy has spurred the search for alternative therapies. (3)

In 2003, the long-term complications of diabetic peripheral neuropathy experienced by 2.4 million people in the U.S. with reduced vibration detection were estimated to cost all U.S. health care payers approximately $14.7 billion over the next 10 years. (4) Peripheral neuropathy (or diabetic polyneuropathy) can present as a loss of sensation that can lead to neuropathic ulcers, and it is a leading cause of amputation. (5)(6)

It has been found that compliance with a preventative foot care program reduces the incidence of foot ulceration in individuals with reduced vibration detection. (7) In addition, identification and treatment of individuals with reduced vibration detection that resulted in improved or normalized vibration perception would reduce the risk of ulceration and amputation. This could save up to $11.8 billion and save 333,000 life-years over the next 10 years. (8) The treatment of diabetic foot ulcerations and amputation is time-consuming and expensive. Treatment aimed at improving peripheral neuropathy, reversing or preventing loss of protective sensation (LOPS), and avoidance of ulcerations and amputations could potentially save valuable resources and improve health outcomes. (9)

In a study published in 2002, treatments utilizing the Dynatronic STS system were shown to successfully decrease the objective signs and subjective symptoms of peripheral neuropathy patients. During that study, daily skin temperatures were obtained from the palmar surface of the thumbs and the plantar surface of the bilateral hallux. The study demonstrated that there was a partial or complete normalization of the actual skin temperature and the skin temperature gradient, left to right. Two patients in that study had diabetes, and both of these patients had improvement in nerve conduction velocity by the end of one month of hourly STS treatments. (10)

Interestingly since then, two different studies have shown that, if elevated temperature differences between contralateral sites can be kept below 4 degrees Fahrenheit, plantar ulcerations in diabetic feet can be markedly reduced. Although this was not specifically addressed in this particular study, it will be addressed in an upcoming study to show that this treatment will cause normalization of temperature differences and decreased LOPS. (11)(12)

Click here to read the full article.