Therapeutic footwear insoles reduce amputation rate

Main Category: Diabetes
Article Date: 20 Feb 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Patients with diabetes who get foot ulcers face a higher than normal risk of foot amputation.

A new study in India has confirmed that therapeutic footwear insoles reduce plantar pressure and the rate of new foot ulcers in patients with diabetes.

The study compared the effectiveness of different types of footwear insoles in 241 diabetic patients. All patients either had previous foot ulceration or were considered at high risk for foot ulceration.

The studies were published in the journal Diabetes Care.

After 9 months of follow-up, patients using therapeutic footwear had significantly lower peak metatarsal pressure (approximately 6.5 kilopascals) than the regular-footwear group (40.7 kPa).

'Use of this footwear is recommended to reduce ulceration and, consequently, the amputation rate in the diabetic population,' conclude the authors

Reference: Viswnathan V et al (2004) Effectiveness of Different Types of Footwear Insoles for the Diabetic Neuropathic Foot: A follow-up study Diabetes Care 27 (2) 474-477

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