The global prevalence of diabetes among adults over 18 years has risen from 4.7% in 1980 to 8.5% in 2014.

In 2016, an estimated 1.6 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes.

Diabetes is a known condition. But what remains unknown is the fact that it directly impacts your feet. While you feel a terrible tingling sensation, you also experience certain numbness and pain in your diabetic foot. This is majorly due to nerve damage caused by high blood pressure. Initially, your feet would feel numb in certain spots and sensitive in others. If you suffer from a foot injury, or scratches and sores—the healing process is bound to take time.

For diabetic foot, you get special shoes and in-shoe plantar that give your feet much-needed relief.

Are the shoes for diabetics different?

Yes, the shoes for diabetics are different than normal shoes. These specialized shoes have a higher, wider toe box, which gives the toes extra room to wiggle. Also, the extra space offered in diabetes shoes helps protect your toes while you’re standing or walking. Since walking around barefoot is a big no-no when it comes to diabetes, you need shoes that provide great support to your ankles, heels, and arches. Shoes made for diabetic foot tend to be deeper, and the in-shoe plantar pressure analysis helps in correcting your stride, supporting your arches, and being a cushion to your heels.

More about in-shoe plantar pressure:

When you suffer from ulceration due to diabetes, the infection is mostly on your feet. Studies suggest that neuropathic plantar ulcerations are caused due to extreme stress in high-pressure regions of your feet. They have further delved deeper to reveal that ulcers that were caused at the margin of the foot were due to an abnormal amount of plantar pressure.

How can use in-shoe plantar pressure analysis help, diabetic foot patients?

In-shoe plantar pressure analysis helps you assess the pressures inside the shoe (pressure between the insole and the plantar foot).  The result of this analysis can help in diagnosing and prevent pressure-induced foot ailments.

The main aim of therapeutic footwear designed for diabetic foot patients is to reduce the risk of ulceration. This is mainly done by relieving the mechanical pressure that is put on your foot. In-shoe plantar pressure analysis can optimize the pressure-reducing effects of diabetic footwear.

In an interesting research conducted, it was deduced that in-shoe plantar pressure analysis is an effective and highly recommended tool to guide footwear modifications. By doing this, the pressure in the neuropathic diabetic foot is significantly reduced.

By taking the in-shoe plantar pressure analysis into consideration, these modifications in your footwear reduce pressure-related foot ulcers and improve the quality of footwear you own.

There is a probability that plantar pressure can or cannot be caused due to factors like body weight, strides, shoe type and so on.

Always remember that your feet can take you places. For a diabetic foot, care comes before everything else and in-shoe plantar pressure analysis can aid you in this process.