Health

Essential Ways To Take Care of Diabetic Foot

If you are diabetic, it is necessary to take good care of your feet. Diabetes makes you more prone to having sores and infections of the feet, as it can affect the sensitivity of your nerves. As part of health checks, your doctor will usually inspect your feet to ensure there are no problems and give advice about diabetic foot care as well as wear diabetes circulatory crew socks.

As soon as you notice any problems, seek the help and advice of your doctor before you attempt to treat the problem yourself.

Simple Foot Care Tips

You need to keep your feet dry as well as clean. Keep your toenails short, either by trimming or by regular visits to a chiropodist. Both feet should be checked thoroughly regularly, this should include looking between all of your toes. Any indications of dry skin or athletes’ foot should be treated with moisturizers and antifungal creams.

Foot Protection

You should never walk around without some kind of foot protection, wherever possible. Wearing some type of footwear will prevent you from treading on small objects such as small toys or stones and suffering cuts and bruises. When wearing shoes, socks should be worn to prevent shoes from rubbing. The socks should be free from seams and elastic and should not be tight-fitting.

These should be comfortable and should not rub against your feet in any way if you are looking for new shoes. The shoes should have ample room at the toes and pointed toes should be avoided. Shoes with heels may cause pressure to certain areas of the feet and high heels should not be considered when purchasing shoes. In Ideal, shoes with good strap fastenings or laces should be the preferred choice as opposed to slip-on shoes.

It is a good idea to wear the type of mens colorful diabetic socks you normally wear, to get a better feel of the shoe. To make sure there is no loose stitching or rough patches that could rub against your feet, have a good feel about inside the shoe with your hand. It may be necessary to get shoes specially made if you have problems with the size or shape of your feet.

Bathing

Having high levels of sugar in the bloodstream can cause damage to the nerves, it is therefore important to take care when bathing to avoid burns. Before going into the bath, it will be necessary to check the temperature of the water with your hand or elbow. The damaged nerves in your feet will mean that you might not feel pain if the water is too hot. For this reason, it is also a good idea to avoid using electric blankets, hot water bottles, and foot spas.

Diabetic Socks

Specially made socks are available that will help to prevent sores, swelling and nerve damage as well as improving circulation. One that can rub against your feet and cause sores, the socks have no elastic or seams. The socks are made of cotton or other materials and can also be antibacterial.

As part of the daily routine, there are many foot creams and lotions available on the market that can be used. These products can be used for the treatment of rough, dry skin and help with the renewal process. Some creams are antibacterial that prevent infections and increase blood flow.

It is also mistaken, with the recommendation of cotton socks for diabetic patients. Cotton fibers lose shape and take a longer time to dry up inside the shoe, compared to newer synthetic fibers such as Duraspun acrylic. Cotton fiber socks become abrasive with multiple wash-wear cycles and they are also rough.

It should have the following, for a sock to be protective or therapeutic for the diabetic foot:

  1. Contain synthetic moisture-wicking fibers such as Duraspun acrylic or Coolmax polyester to remain soft and provide a cushion. For patients with diabetes as far as possible, pure cotton fiber socks should be avoided.
  2. To prevent the sock from slipping inside the shoe and stay up on the ankle, they are form-fitted and snug (not tight), with sufficient elasticity.
  3. To avoid skin irritation they have no harmful dyes or additives.

Wearing properly fitted shoes would go a long way in protecting a diabetic’s foot along with diabetes circulatory crew socks.

Keeping the feet in shape in the long term takes knowledge and vigilance for a diabetic. The price is severe, for those who fail to protect their feet. Each year, thousands of people with diabetes have amputations. However, most of those amputations are the result of minor injuries that were left untreated and allowed to develop into ulcers. This means that most of those amputations could have been prevented.

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Vivek

Vivek is a writing enthusiast fond of healthy and happy living. He believes Knowledge gets better when shared. So he founded The Mindful Bytes as a platform for people who love to read and write anything that has to do with Health, Tech, Business, Finance, and Lifestyle.

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