Shoes have a significant impact on everyone’s foot health, but more so if you have diabetes. The function of shoes is to cover, support, and protect the feet. Flip flops, thongs or open toed sandals leave your feet vulnerable to silent or painless trauma and should be avoided.

Not every patient with diabetes needs to have diabetic shoes. Diabetic shoes are typically wider and deeper in the toe box area. These special shoes also are used to accommodate deformed feet that can not fit comfortable in over the counter type shoes. Patients with sensory neruropathy or loss of protective sensation NEED to use diabetic shoes to prevent the triggers that can lead to amputation.

Selecting the right shoe and visually inspecting your feet daily or more frequently when wearing new shoes should be a critical component of your overall amputation prevention strategy.

After you get your new shoes home there are a few simple rules concerning shoes and amputation prevention.

•Inspect the inside of the shoes for loose stitching or rough spots in the shoe lining before you put them on. Also check for foreign objects. Patients have reported finding things such as pins, keys, coins, a peanut, screw, and even a bottle of nail polish in their shoes.

•Wear the appropriate sock for the shoe you are wearing.

•Keep your shoes in good condition. Shoes with worn heel or soles should be repaired or replaced. Shoes with damaged uppers should be replaced.

Learn more about shoes and especially about diabetic shoes in my new book Keep the Legs You Stand On. The book is to be released by Nightengale Press this month.

-drhinkes