ABSTRACT
G. SARASWATHY, GAUTHAM GOPALAKRISHNA, B. N. DAS, and VIJAY VISWANATHAN
Abstract ................................................................................................. 317 8.1 Introduction .................................................................................. 318
8.1.1 Foot Complications of Diabetes Mellitus ........................ 318 8.1.2 Risk Factors for LEA in Diabetic Foot ............................ 322
8.2 Risk Factors for Diabetic Foot Ulcer ........................................... 322 8.3 Prevention and Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers ...................... 325 8.4 Plantar Pressure Offloading Devices ........................................... 326
8.4.1 Total Contact Casts .......................................................... 326 8.4.2 Removable Walker or Ankle Foot Orthosis ..................... 327 8.4.3 Half Shoes ........................................................................ 328 8.4.4 Healing Sandals (Rocker Bottom Sole) ........................... 328 8.4.5 Felted Foam ..................................................................... 329 8.4.6 Crutches, Walkers,and Wheelchairs ................................. 329 8.4.7 Therapeutic Footwear ...................................................... 329
8.5 Materials Used for Therapeutic Footwear Fabrication ................ 334 8.6 Identification of Requirement for Therapeutic Footwear ............ 336 8.7 New Materials for Therapeutic Footwear Applications ............... 338
8.7.1 Preparation of PU Sheets ................................................. 339 8.7.2 The Main Advantages of Developed Insole Materials ..... 343 8.7.3 Study of Effectiveness of PU Insoles for Reducing
Plantar Pressure in Patients with Diabetes at High-risk for Foot Ulcers ....................................................................... 343
8.8 New Design of Therapeutic Footwear for Low Risk Category Patients ......................................................................................... 349
Keywords .............................................................................................. 354 Acknowledgment .................................................................................. 354 References ............................................................................................. 354
ABSTRACT
Therapeutic footwear has proved for decades as one of the important therapeutic interventions for diabetic foot ulcer. The primary goal of therapeutic footwear is to protect and prevent the foot from the complications, such as calluses and diabetic foot ulcers or even amputations for patients with diabetes. The proper design and customization of therapeutic footwear based on subject’s as well as physician’s needs is important to increase the patient’s compliance of using the therapeutic footwear. The aim of our research is to improve the design and materials of customized therapeutic footwear for patients with diabetes.
