Why Is Footcare Important For Diabetics?

Diabetic foot care is even more important than foot care for seniors without diabetes. If neglected, diabetics can develop foot problems that require serious medical intervention – or even amputation. Thus, getting consistent foot care and controlling your diabetes is critical. Not everyone has the time or ability to follow through with their footcare needs. You can get foot care in Scarborough from iCare Home Health. In the meantime, learn about why footcare is so important.

Why Does Diabetes Affect Your Feet?

Uncontrolled diabetes, or incidents of very high and very low blood sugar, can harm the nerves and blood vessels throughout your body. One of the first places to be affected by this damage is the feet. If the nerves and blood vessels in your feet are damaged enough, you may lose circulation and feeling in your feet.

This leaves your feet vulnerable to further injury. Since you don’t feel your feet at this point, you may not notice even a serious cut or bruise. If you don’t notice it, then you won’t take the proper steps of cleaning and covering your injury to prevent infection.

Once an infection, ulcer, or other injury is on your feet, it will take longer to heal. As you have less circulation in your feet, they don’t get as much blood and oxygen as they should. Therefore, they are much slower to heal. This makes it harder for your body to fight off infection.

Damage to your feet can, over time, cause them to curl up or to either side. This can make walking more challenging and thus lead to further foot injury.

How Can You Protect Your Feet?

Diabetic foot care starts with protecting your feet from nerve and blood vessel damage in the first place. This means getting an early diagnosis of diabetes and keeping your blood sugar levels under control with proper diet, exercise, and the medication your physician recommends.

However, seniors, especially those who have had diabetes for some time, may still develop nerve damage and blood vessel damage in their feet. You can keep them healthy with a consistent footcare routine. This isn’t much different from typical foot care for seniors:

• Check for injury daily.
• Be sure to check the bottom of feet and in between toes.
• Treat even minor foot injury seriously.
• Wash your feet with gentle soap daily.
• Moisturize your feet daily.
• Trim toenails frequently.

Your daily footcare routine can keep your feet healthier and ensure that walking is more comfortable.

Footcare in Pickering From iCare Home Health

iCare Home Health is a boutique, visionary home healthcare agency that leverages creative and innovative solutions to empower Canadians, young or old, to recover from medical procedure or age with dignity in the comfort of their homes.

Our services include Friend at Home, Personal Support at Home, Nurse at Home and Advanced foot care at home or at one of our growing clinics sites.

Our Care Plans are individualized to client needs and preferences. Our team is passionate about the care they provide and strive to make a difference wherever the opportunity arises.

For more information, visit our website at www.icarehomehealth.ca or email us at info@icarehomehealth.ca.