Impact of Muscle and Tendon Dysfunction in People With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes is a chronic-degenerative metabolic disorder that has reached pandemic proportions mainly because of the increasing incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). Diabetes hurts cardiovascular function due to chronic hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia, along with increased advanced glycation end products (AGEs) causing nonenzymatic glycation of soft tissues, including muscle and tendon, and leading to an increase in muscle and tendon stiffness. In turn, the stiffening of the muscle-tendon complex reduces its capability to change in shape, affecting its potential for modulating the mechanical request during contraction (and locomotion), also increasing the metabolic demands during walking. The present, multi-disciplinary, project combines several experimental methods and procedures to investigate the impact of muscle and tendon alterations on the mechanics of muscle contraction and locomotion capacity in T2D patients. In this project, we also propose a new training approach (minute oscillation stretching) to counteract these possible alterations (e.g. to decrease muscle and tendon stiffness).