Is Body Sway Model Valid to Analyze Postural Control for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy People?

It is essential to maintain the center of gravity of body within the base of support of posture while standing or gaiting for controlling posture properly. For this control fundamental functions of human body such as visual, vestibular, and somatosensory systems should be capable to make appropriate musculoskeletal responses to keep the equilibrium of the posture that can be disrupted by internal disturbances or external perturbations. These responses should be able to make the center of gravity of body being balanced with opposing forces during voluntary movements as well as disturbed movements Diabetic peripheral neuropathy can cause a loss of sensation in the feet, which can lead to impaired stability of body balance and result in a risk of falls or slips. In the literature, a considerable number of studies have reported that people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy tend to be inferior to keeping posture stable when the equilibrium of body balance is disturbed, even when standing quietly. Ability of postural control has been evaluated from the perspective of body sway that is measured by total displacement of sway, velocity or acceleration of sway, or virtual time to contact a boundary of postural stability. In general, some studies found differences of postural stability between people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy and without neuropathy. Also, some studies have reported contradictory results with the same or different methodologies. There have been inconsistent results with body sway models to analyze posture control for diabetic peripheral neuropathy in the literature. The objective of this study was to review several body sway analysis models and to discuss some possible causes of inconsistent reports on postural sway analyses from the perspective of data sampling issues, statistical analysis, body sway models, and methodology of data analysis.