Effects of prescribed physical therapy exercises on blood glucose, metabolic and HbA1c profiles in pre-diabetes at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the metabolic parameters of pre-diabetes and to provide evidence of prescribed physical therapy exercises that can be quantified and reproduced.

Design: A controlled experimental study

Setting: Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and physical therapy gymnasium of Moi University orthopaedics and rehabilitation department in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya.

Subjects: Two comparison groups, Experimental Group (EG) and Control Group (CG) with each group having the same size of subjects (17 each).

Results: Exercise reduces Fasting Blood Glucose (FBG) by 5% and 13%, in 6 and 12 weeks, respectively. It also showed High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) were significantly higher in the experimental than in the control group during post-training (z= -3.20.17, p=0.001). On the other hand, the level of Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) decreased in the experimental group during both mid-training and post-training period relative to pre-training (z= -2.908.18, p=0.001). There was a significant reduction of HbA1c (of 3%) after six weeks and an even more marked drop (8%) after 12 weeks in EG compared to CG in which there was no drop in HbA1c levels. High correlation was found between FBG and HbA1c(r=0.95). All parameters at pre, mid and post training were not significantly different between males and females.

Conclusion: Prescribed Physical Therapy Exercises (PPTE) exerted improvement on FBG, metabolic and HbA1c profiles in pre-diabetes. The knowledge of how much exercise is needed to impact change in disease progression would inform the prescription of exercise by physiotherapists to their clients.