The Best Low-Impact Exercises for Peripheral Neuropathy
Medically reviewed by: David M. Joyner, MD, FACS
Peripheral neuropathy is when nerves outside the spinal cord and brain become damaged. It can happen due to chronic medical conditions, like type 2 diabetes and autoimmune disorders, infections, surgery, and chemotherapy (among many other potential causes). Damage to these nerves (called peripheral nerves) can result in tingling, numbness, pain, or weakness, mostly in the hands and feet.
Peripheral neuropathy can also cause mobility issues, including trouble balancing or with bodily coordination. Exercise can be a helpful component of a treatment plan, supporting stability, building strength, reducing the risk of falls, and improving quality of life.
What are the best exercises for peripheral neuropathy? Low-impact, nerve-friendly routines that improve strength, balance, and flexibility are ideal for relieving symptoms and supporting overall mobility. This guide explores the different types of exercises that have shown promise for peripheral neuropathy patients.
Why Exercise Matters for Peripheral Neuropathy
Why does exercise help peripheral neuropathy? Not all forms of exercise are recommended for patients with peripheral neuropathy, but since the condition affects mobility, physical activity is vital for maintaining the ability to walk, grasp things with your hands, and perform daily tasks, like showering, preparing food, and tidying up your home.
Managing Symptoms Through Movement
Movement helps lower inflammation and keep glucose (blood sugar) within a normal range. It also boosts blood circulation throughout the body and improves nerve function. All these benefits of exercise can help reduce the most common symptoms of peripheral neuropathy, such as pain, tingling, numbness, and weakness
Building Stability, Strength, and Coordination
Research has shown that aerobic and strength-training exercise can be an effective treatment for peripheral neuropathy—or at least a complementary remedy to a more comprehensive plan.
Physical activity helps counteract the loss of mobility many people experience with peripheral neuropathy. Besides building strength and cardiovascular endurance, working out can improve your balance, stability, and coordination, making you steadier on your feet and lowering the risk of falls.
Choosing Low-Impact Activities
Again, not just any workout is suitable for those suffering from peripheral neuropathy. Low-impact activities and gentle movements are safest, especially when you're experiencing numbness or difficulty balancing.
Best Types of Exercise for Peripheral Neuropathy
The best types of exercise for peripheral neuropathy include stretching and flexibility work, strength training, balance and stability exercises, low-impact aerobic activities, mind-body movement practices, and whole-body vibration training.
#1 Stretching and Flexibility Work
Flexibility work can lengthen muscles, loosen up tight areas, support healthy joint movement, and improve range of motion. Stretching doesn't need to be time-consuming, but it should be part of any exercise routine that also focuses on strength training.
You can warm up with dynamic stretches. These include continuous, controlled movements like arm circles, standing toe taps, or alternating knee raises. After your workout, cool down with static stretches—such as reaching toward your toes or crossing one arm over your chest to stretch your shoulder—holding each move in place for 10 to 30 seconds.
#2 Strength Training
Low-impact strength training can involve bodyweight exercises (think squats, lunges, calf raises, and push-ups) or using light handweights. You can also try a specific type of workout, like Pilates or barre.
Strengthening your muscles and building lean mass can help protect the joints. It can minimize the weakness often felt with peripheral neuropathy and help with control, force, and coordination of the limbs. Building muscle can also help with neuromuscular coordination (how the nervous system interacts with muscles) and proprioception (the body's sense of its movements and positioning in space). All of these aspects are vital in reducing the risk of falls.
#3 Balance and Stability Exercises
Doing stability exercises just twice a week for eight weeks can offer noticeable improvements for peripheral neuropathy, particularly with proprioception. One study showed that this protocol reduces postural sway (involuntary movements you make while standing to stay balanced) and improves the ability to stand on one leg.
These types of exercise can include basic moves like heel-to-toe walking, single-leg squats, or bird-dog. Standing on a vibration plate can improve balance and stability as well.
Other benefits you might see are a quicker reaction time, reduced risk of falls, the ability to stand for longer periods, improved gait (how your body and limbs move when you walk), and better overall mobility.,
#4 Low-Impact Aerobic Activities
Aerobic exercise is anything that gets your blood pumping and your heart rate up. But it doesn't have to leave you completely out of breath or be discouragingly hard. In fact, low-intensity activities—like walking, swimming, cycling on a recumbent bike, or step aerobics—are ideal for peripheral neuropathy.
This type of exercise supports nervous system health, which can help with nerve and sensory function. It's been shown to not only improve diabetic neuropathy symptoms (like pain and touch sensitivity) but also slow down the development of the condition by preserving peripheral nerves.
#5 Mind-Body Movement Practices
Mind-body practices like yoga, tai chi, Pilates, and deep-breathing exercises require focus, control, and the ability to move slowly through different positions while maintaining good posture and whole-body stability. This type of low-impact movement can help build strength, improve coordination and balance, and elevate your sense of motor control.
#6 Whole-Body Vibration Training
A vibration plate can be used for exercises for peripheral neuropathy in the feet. But its benefits go beyond the lower extremities—that's why it's called whole-body vibration training.
In addition to activating muscles in the feet and legs and boosting ankle stability, standing on a vibrational platform stimulates circulation throughout the entire body, including to the arms and hands.
Whole-body vibration has also been shown to improve postural control (the ability to stand or sit up straight without swaying) and help prevent falls.
Benefits of Whole-Body Vibration for Neuropathy
Let's go over the wide-ranging benefits of vibration therapy for neuropathy in more detail.
Enhances Blood Flow and Oxygen Delivery
Standing on a vibration plate boosts circulation, helping blood flow throughout the body and get where it needs to go. This supports oxygen delivery to the nervous system, ensuring the brain gets enough oxygen.
The enhanced blood flow from whole-body vibration can also promote nerve health. This may reduce pain, tingling, and other sensory symptoms of peripheral neuropathy.
Gently Stimulates Nerves and Muscles
Vibration plate training is among the best exercises for peripheral neuropathy in the legs. The vibrations continuously cause muscles in the feet, calves, quads, and hamstrings to contract and release. This builds strength without the need for a high-impact or strenuous workout while improving balance and stability.
By gently stimulating nerves throughout the body, whole-body vibration has been shown to reduce common symptoms of diabetic peripheral neuropathy, specifically chronic pain and occasional numbness.,
Ideal for Low-Mobility or Sensitive Users
Vibration therapy is a good option for people with mobility issues and neurosensitivity (when sensations or mild pain feel more intense than they would for the average person). A vibration plate with a built-in handlebar is generally easy to use, safe for older adults, and calls for minimal movement to produce significant effects. Plus, you can use it any day of the year, no matter the weather, from the comfort of your home.
Check with your healthcare provider to see if using a vibration plate could be helpful for your condition. They can assess your symptoms, medical history, and goals and let you know whether it's safe for you and how to incorporate it into your routine.
Explore Power Plate's Whole-Body Vibration Collection
Power Plate products are backed by clinical research and designed to accelerate recovery and maximize results for people of all ages and fitness levels.
Our whole-body vibration collection includes a variety of vibration plates that can be used for general fitness or as part of a holistic treatment plan for peripheral neuropathy and other chronic conditions. Each platform features patented multidirectional vibration to guide you in gentle, effective movement that engages major muscle groups, boosts blood circulation, and improves balance. In as little as 15 minutes per session, you can move better, feel better, and live better.
Explore vibration plates from Power Plate today.
Sources:
Journal of Physical Therapy Science. Effects of whole-body vibration therapy on perception thresholds of type 2 diabetic patients with peripheral neuropathy: a randomized controlled trial. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5599846/
Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology. Effect of Whole Body Vibration on Skin Blood Flow and Nitric Oxide Production. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4764225/
Journal of Bodywork Movement Therapy. Whole body vibration therapy for painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy: a pilot study. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24139013/
Journal of Bodywork Movement Therapy. Whole body vibration improves symptoms of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32507132/
Medical Science Monitor. The effect of whole body vibration on lower extremity skin blood flow in normal subjects. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17261985/
Gait & Posture. Effects of whole body vibration training on postural control in older individuals: A 1 year randomized controlled trial. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0966636206002864
Cleveland Clinic. Peripheral Neuropathy. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/14737-peripheral-neuropathy
Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. Benefits of exercise intervention in reducing neuropathic pain. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3983517/
Frontiers in Medicine. Exercise for Neuropathic Pain: A Systematic Review and Expert Consensus. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8654102/
Current Issues in Sports Science. Specific exercise is medicine – Preventing and treating peripheral neuropathy. https://ciss-journal.org/article/view/9386
BMC Neuroscience. Effects of multisystem exercises on balance, postural stability, mobility, walking speed, and pain in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy: a randomized controlled trial. https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12868-024-00924-6
Frontiers in Neuroscience. Emerging Relationships between Exercise, Sensory Nerves, and Neuropathic Pain. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2016.00372/full
Pain Management Nursing. Effects of Physical Exercise on Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1524904224003242
Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders. Whole body vibration showed beneficial effect on pain, balance measures and quality of life in painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy: a randomized controlled trial. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7270395/
Journal of Diabetology. Whole-Body Vibration, in Addition to Balance Exercise, Shows Positive Effects for Strength and Functional Ability in Patients with Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy: A Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial. https://journals.lww.com/jodb/fulltext/2021/12040/whole_body_vibration,_in_addition_to_balance.10.aspx
Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics. Effects of an exercise program on balance and trunk proprioception in older adults with diabetic neuropathies. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21561371/
Current Sports Medicine Reports. Whole Body Vibration Exercise: Training and Benefits. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5373422_Whole_Body_Vibration_Exercise_Training_and_Benefits
