If you’re living with diabetes, you may be aware that you should be having a regular foot health check with your Podiatrist. There’s a good chance you may even be covered for 5 Podiatry consultations under the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) plan from your GP. We often see patients for their very first diabetic foot health check that have no idea about the link between diabetes and the feet, so we thought we’d give you the low-down! It all begins with the impairment on a persons sensation and circulation.

Altered Sensation (Peripheral Neuropathy)

Changes in sensation occur because of damage to the nerves responsible for our ability to feel and to process what something feels like. The nerves and both the hands and feet may be affected, but typically symptoms will first present in the feet. This is because they’re the longest nerves in the body. This is otherwise referred to as Peripheral Neuropathy.

There are various changes in sensation that you may experience. Often this involves numbness, tingling and pins and needles. Less commonly, you may experience a mix-up of sensations such as hot feeling cold and numb feeling sharp, and vice versa. The most dangerous and common affect on the nerves is the absence of sensation, where you lose the feeling in part of your foot, but instead of feeling numb or dull, you just don’t notice that the sensation is gone at all. As the effects of diabetes progressively worsen, this may start out in a small area of the foot and over time affect the whole surface of the foot.

Without the ability to feel, you lose the ability to detect when you’ve stood on something foreign and sharp, like a pin or nail or large splinter, that may pierce the skin and cause harm to your foot. If the foreign object is not removed, a wound develops, any open wound is prone to infection, and the area may ulcerate. Diabetes-related ulcerations are the leading cause of amputation in Australia.

Impaired Circulation

Diabetes also impairs circulation by causing damage to the blood vessels that supply not just the feet but also the eyes, heart, brain and kidneys. For the feet, this means a poorer blood supply. You may notice your feet are often cold, pale, you may develop dry skin and your toenails may become brittle and flaky. The most dangerous effect is that with a decreased blood supply, wounds take longer to close and infections take longer to resolve. Coupled with the increased risk for wounds, infections and ulceration in diabetes, the consequences can be devastating.

The Diabetic Foot Check

This is why it’s essential to go for your regular diabetic foot health check with your Podiatrist. Your Podiatrist examines the condition of your feet and the extent to which your feet have been affected. We then go through all the things to look out for your risks, and how to best care for your feet at the stage that you are at. We check for any abnormalities and changes in the skin and nails, check for anything that raises alarm bells, and send a report back to your GP so they know exactly what’s going on with your feet and if there’s anything they should be wary of.

If you or someone in your family is living with Diabetes, bring them in to see our foot health experts here at Sole Motion Podiatry. We are committed to clinical excellence in Podiatric care and want to see you happy, healthy and doing the things you love – not being limited by diabetic foot complications. Give us a call on 1300-FX-FEET