An American research team has developed revolutionary shoe insoles capable of reducing the risk of diabetic foot ulcers, a precursor to a possible amputation. This is how experimental devices work.
Credit: Courtesy UT Arlington
US researchers have developed insoles per shoes innovations capable of reducing the risk of amputation because of diabetes. Among the main ones complications of the disease, both type 1 and type 2, there is in fact the diabetic foota condition in which both the function that the structure of the foot. As explained by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), in fact, if diabetes is not kept under control, the arteries eh nerves of the lower limbs – and especially the feet – can be seriously damaged by metabolic alterations induced by the disease.
These damages catalyze the risk ulcers under the sole of the foot e infections difficult to treat, which in turn can lead to a gangrene for which theamputation. It is no coincidence that patients with diabetes have a risk of amputation tens of times higher compared to the standard population. As explained by the San Donato Group, 1 million leg amputations are performed every year due to diabetic foot. In the United States there are around 170,000, while in Italy the figure is around 7.000a relatively small number thanks to extensive monitoring of diabetic disease.
Since a significant proportion of people with diabetes develop the aforementioned ulcers, a precursor to the potential amputation of legs, feet or toes, a research group has decided to develop revolutionary insoles for them shoes able to significantly reduce the risk of these appearing wounds in the presence of diabetic foot. They were developed by an American research team made up of scientists from the Biomedical Technology Division of the University of Texas and the Department of Plastic Surgery of the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
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The researchers, coordinated by Professor Muthu BJ Wijesundara, professor at the Arlington Research Institute Fort Worth of the Texan university, developed the insoles to prevent the continuous load, repetitive e uniform on soft tissues during walking, which represents the main trigger for the appearance of diabetic foot. In very simple words, these insoles are made up of air cell matrices designed to “cyclically offload pressure from the plantar regions” and “reduce repetitive stress and load on the foot”. In other words, they ensure that the pressure is distributed in various parts of the foot and in an alternating manner, thus preventing continuous and repeated stress on the same tissues, at the basis of ulcers and consequent possible amputations.
Credit: courtesy UT Arlington
“Although many shoe insoles have been created over the years to try to alleviate the problem of foot ulcers, studies have shown that their success in preventing them is marginal,” Professor Wijesundara said in a press release. “We have taken the research a step further by creating an alternating pressure shoe insole that works by cyclically relieving pressure from different areas of the foot, thus providing rest periods to soft tissue and improving blood flow. This approach aims to maintain skin and tissue health, thus reducing the risk of diabetic foot ulcers,” added the expert. The functioning of the innovative insole was evaluated in both conditions static That dynamics and, through special machinery, it has been shown that they are able to effectively reduce pressure in the areas where ulcers form, such as the heel, big toe and metatarsal heads.
“The results show the insole’s ability to reduce plantar pressure through cyclic unloading. The internal pressure of the air cells significantly affects the overall pressure reduction and must be chosen based on the user’s weight. The results confirm that the unloading insole has the potential to reduce the risk of developing diabetic foot by relieving plantar stress in both static and dynamic conditions,” concluded Professor Wijesundara and colleagues in the study abstract. The details of the research “Development of Cyclic Pressure Offloading Insole for Diabetic Foot Ulcer Prevention” were published in the scientific journal The International Journal of Lower Extremity Wounds.