Diabetic Foot Care

For people with diabetes a lot of attention is focused on foot care. So much that you may think that foot problems are inevitable. Not so, you can prevent or minimise most problems with an easy to follow routine of daily foot care. We can give you an individual plan for keeping your feet healthy.I t is true that having diabetes means taking special care of your feet, you must protect them from infection and its potentially serious consequences.

Diabetes effects the whole body however it can cause many problems in the feet. In the diabetic patient they produce less insulin than in a normal patient, the insulin is used by the body to break down sugars within the body with less insulin there is elevated amounts of  sugar in the blood. There are two types of diabetes, type 1 or juvenile onset this is generally the more dangerous type as patients develop this at a very young age and hence there is longer for the effects of diabetes to be felt, this type is generally treated with injections of insulin . Type 2 or late onset diabetes is generally developed later in life and is  controlled with medication or diet.
Over time diabetes generally damages peripheral nerves such as those in the feet this leads to peripheral neuropathy or loss of sensation. It is very important that the patients peripheral sensation is tested by a Podiatrist on a regular basis. Peripheral neuropathy means that if a patient gets a small stone in their shoe the foot might be damaged without the patient being aware of it, leaving an open wound with high blood sugar this is a site that is prone to infection. Diabetes also affects circulation particularly in small vessels like found in the feet, this obviously leads to reduced healing. Foot ulcers are common in diabetic patients as they have reduced healing ability. If a diabetic patient develops an ulcer they can take months to heal leaving them prone to infections.

We have listed some interesting links below:

Diabetes Australia----------------------------------diabetesaustralia.com

Diabetes Australia Victoria---------------------------------------dav.org.au

Australian Centre for Diabetes Strategies-----------diabetes.net.au

Diabetes Centre----------------------------------------------diabetes.org.au

International Diabetes Institute-----------------------diabetes.com.au

Children With Diabetes----------------------childrenwithdiabetes.com

Reality Check Inc.-------------------------------------realitycheck.org.au

The Diabetic Foot Risk Calculator-----footandankle.com/DMfoot/

American Diabetes Association-------------diabetes.org/home.jsp