The team of orthopaedic researchers have examined diabetic foot complications ever since 2008, focusing on protecting the foot from overloading the foot sole, as this will minimise the risk of ulcers, which lead to amputation. For this study, which will be presented at the International Conference on Prosthetics and Orthotics in Hyderabad,India this February, the team looked at 114 Swedish patients with diabetes at risk of developing such ulcers. The participants had were an average of 58 years old and 12 years after their initial diabetes diagnosis, and for a period of two years they wore one of three different types of shoe inserts.
The results showed that the number of amputations needed was reduced by over 50% thanks to shoe inserts, podiatry, information and regular checkups. 3-8% of similar diabetic populations are expected to develop new foot ulcers, but only 0.9% of the participants did so in the first year. They also found that only 67% of diabetes patients had been offered podiatry despite the fact that 83% had calluses.
According to doctoral student Ulla Tang, ‘We found that good shoes and inserts can reduce pressure on the foot by 50% compared with going barefoot’, regardless of the type of insert that was used. She said the financial consequences of this knowledge are huge as ‘An insert costs anywhere from SEK 850 to SEK 1,450’ whereas ‘Healing a diabetic foot ulcer averages SEK 70,000, while an amputation demands up to SEK 1 million in social and healthcare resources.’ She surmised that ‘Ulcer prevention is not only a way of relieving suffering but a sound financial investment.’
Not only will the researchers present this information at the conference in India, but they are also planning to introduce a new digital tool that they have developed in collaboration with the Västra Götaland region. They claim that this digital tool will make assessing the risk for foot ulcers easy and reliable, and could be used as a basis for the prescription of suitable shoes and insoles.
