“The diabetic foot is something that I am very passionate about,” podiatrist Tim Morris said. “Forty - 75 per cent of a podiatrist’s work load is diabetes related. At first, I hadn’t realised that, but I do now.”
When Queensland University of Technology did a study of 180 amputations, 53.2 per cent of the patients had type 2 diabetes.
PVD (Peripheral Vascular Disease; damage to the lower limbs) and Neuropathy (decreased sensation to your feet and sometimes hands) are complications identified by a general assessment (vascular and neurological tests) for loss of feeling and loss of blood flow.
Foot care might not seem difficult if you can feel your feet. If not, a number of problems might crop up.
“I told one of the patients to wear ‘All Day Socks’ and he was quite pleased with himself. He actually did what I said and went out and bought them,” Mr Morris said.
“When I checked his feet though, one of the socks was sticky with blood. A large plastic hanger for the socks, was in the shoe and he had been walking around on it for a long time.
“He was very embarrassed, but when the feeling in your feet goes, you often don’t realise until you see a trail of blood in the house.
“I can’t stress enough the importance of checking your feet visually every day.”
There are tricks for keeping a step ahead, Mr Morris said. If you can’t bend much, you can put a mirror on the end of a length of string to look at the soles of your feet.
“If you step on something, you might not feel it. By checking, at least you will know. Use your own eyes or someone else’s eyes,” he said
“Test shoes by wearing them in the house for an hour -and then two hours another day. You can return them if there are any problems that way. Make sure there are no prominent seams and that there is room for the length and width of your foot (you can use a template or pull the support out of the shoe to see).”
“Corns and calluses are like walking on stones so that is doing damage, too... Without the natural emollient of perspiration, your feet will become dry and in extreme cases, cracked. Perspiration is controlled by your autonomic nervous system (which also controls your heart and breathing).”
“Use a urea based cream to moisturise them and keep in between your toes dry, by using alcohol wipes or metho… When I was studying at university, we did part of the course at a nursing home and got a phone call from an angry staff member about the advice to use metho because patients had been drinking it instead of putting it on their feet.”
His final advice was to “beware of your blood glucose levels. I don’t know what’s been going on, but a lot of doctors have been saying to patients that tests aren’t necessary, that’s just ludicrous.”
Alan Phillips, who attended the talk, said it was invaluable. “Where would we be without our feet?”
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