Abstract

Summary
Background: Gait is impaired in people with type 2 diabetes. An insulin sensitizer, rosiglitazone(RSG) has promise to reverse some of the circulatory impairments seen in diabetes. The hypothesis to be tested
was if RSG would improve gait in patients with diabetes.
Material/Methods: Gait in 30 controls and 25 subjects with Type 2 diabetes was examined (10 subjects with diabetes were placed on rosiglitazone (4 mg/day) for 6 months, a PPAR-g ligand known to improve peripheral circulation, to asses any improvements in gait). Gait was analyzed by video, shoe sensors, accelerometers
and electromyogram of the medial gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior muscles during the initiation of gait, steady state gait and turns.
Results: Subjects with diabetes had almost double the movement at the knee in both the fl exion-extension and lateral directions than did control subjects. For example, for fl exion-extension at the knee
during constant velocity gait in a linear path, subjects with diabetes averaged a force of 1.91±0.29 g whereas control subjects only averaged 1.26±0.27 g, these differences were signifi cant (p

Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - drug therapy, Body Mass Index, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - physiopathology, Gait - physiology, H-Reflex, Hypoglycemic Agents - therapeutic use, Knee Joint - physiopathology, Muscle, Skeletal - physiopathology, Reaction Time, Reference Values, Shoes, Thiazolidinediones - therapeutic use, Video Recording