Exercise and diet can reduce neuropathic pain

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Research shows that an exercise and diet plan will help neuropathic pain in those with glucose intolerance.
Around 40 per cent of people who have idiopathic neuropathic pain (that is, nerve pain with no obvious cause) are found to have glucose intolerance. This condition often precedes diabetes, where neuropathic pain is common. It is already known that diet and exercise can help reduce the diabetes risk of glucose intolerance. Now researchers have carried out a study to see if impaired glucose tolerance neuropathy (IGTN) can also improve with diet and exercise.

A group of 32 patients had individualized diet and exercise counseling for one year. The number of nerve fibers, measured by a small skin biopsy, increased by one third and, overall, the patients had less pain and better nerve functioning. However, patients with the worst loss of nerve fibers at the extremities did not improve. The suggestion that IGTN may be reversed is interesting and further demonstrates the benefits of diet and exercise in avoiding diabetes and its consequences.

Source
American Academy of Neurology meeting 5th April 2006

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