The project was a collaboration between Bendigo-based researchers and Fusion Physiotherapy's Jane McCaig, with the aim to investigate if regular exercise could improve the signs and symptoms of peripheral neuropathy.

Associate professor Michael Kingsley said peripheral neuropathy was a condition which affected nerves in the feet and was common in people with diabetes. 

He said the condition could lead to skin ulceration and lower limb amputations.

"It has an extremely devastating impact on people who are forced to have their limbs amputated," he said. 

As part of the research, a group of 12 people with diabetes were split into two groups, exercise and education. 

The education group spent eight weeks learning about how to best manage their diabetes while the exercise group took part in an exercise regime three times per week.  

Senior lecturer in podiatry Byron Perrin said early results showed there was potential for regular exercise to be beneficial for people with diabetes and peripheral neuropathy. 

However Dr Perrin said the project needed to be replicated with another group of participants to further confirm the credibility of the research. 

"Over the past five years there has been increasing interest in the benefits of exercise in this population. We want to see if there is potential for exercise to be used as a treatment for peripheral neuropathy," he said. 

"Our very early results suggest that there is potential for exercise to be beneficial for people with diabetes and peripheral neuropathy; however we need more participants to make sure."

June and John Dunell were participants of the project. 

Mr Dunell, who was in the exercise group, said he enjoyed taking part. 

"The exercise was great. I found doing the exercises three times a week was wonderful," he said. 

People interested in participating should contact Dr Perrin on 5448 9118.