![]() ![]() In addition, altered plantar pressure distribution is an important etiopathogenic risk factor for the development of foot ulcers. Therefore they are prone to develop frequent and often foot problems with a relative high risk of infection, gangrene and amputation. Also, these tests were performed by several experts that showed no significant differences in the obtained results.īackground: Diabetes mellitus patients are at increased risk of developing diabetic foot with peripheral neuropathy, vascular and musculoskeletal complications. In this study, the reliability of these two tools was evaluated for sensory evaluation of diabetic patients and the results showed that they have sufficient reliability in several sessions (intervals of about 7 days). These two tools (monofilaments and tuning fork) should have sufficient accuracy and reliability to evaluate sensory perception in diabetic patients. One of the simplest ways of sensory evaluation is to examine the pressure sensation by monofilaments and vibration sensation by tuning fork. Thus, diabetic patients should be regularly evaluated for sensory perception. Plain Language Summary Sensory neuropathy is one of the main causes of foot ulcer in diabetic patients. The tuning fork is reliable to measure vibration sensations in diabetic patients.Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments are reliable to measure pressure sensation in diabetic patients.However, further studies are required to support the results of current study. Discussion: The obtained results indicated that SWM and tuning fork seemed to be highly reliable to measure pressure and vibration sensations in diabetic patients. Between-days inter-rater reliability of SWM and tuning fork were high and poor, respectively. Excellent between-days intra-rater reliability (ICC>0.75) was also obtained for SWM however, the ICC of tuning fork was moderate. Results: Within-day Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) analysis indicated excellent levels of inter-and intra-rater reliability (ICC>0.75) for feet kit SWM in all foot regions and 128 Hz and 256 Hz tuning forks. Measurements were performed twice on the first session with an hour interval to assess within-day reliability and the third one was demonstrated 7 days later to assess between-days reliability. Feet kit SWM and tuning fork were used for pressure and vibration sensation evaluation, respectively. Methods: Following ethical approval, 34 diabetic patients without foot ulceration were recruited. The present study evaluated the inter-and intra-rater reliability of SWM and tuning fork to measure pressure and vibration sensations in diabetic patients. Semmes-Weinstein Monofilaments (SWM) and tuning fork on/off test are widely used to assess pressure and vibration sensitivity. Periodical sensory examination is an appropriate method to detect neuropathy and decrease the risk of diabetic foot ulcer. Objectives: Sensory neuropathy is the major cause of ulceration in diabetic patients. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |