foot pain and diabetes
Foot pain can certainly be caused by a number of reasons. However, foot pain resulting from diabetes is painful and very common for people living with diabetes.
Diabetes and foot pain are generally defined by four different types.
A nerve problem (where the nerves themselves are affected by the disease) called peripheral neuropathy is the most common source of diabetes-related foot pain. Peripheral neuropathy presents as sensory, motor, and autonomic neuropathy.
Sensory neuropathy is the most common and is defined by symptoms in which the amount of pain is much greater than the source causing it. For example, simply touching or lightly tugging on socks triggers a painful reaction. Also, with sensory neuropathy, you may experience some numbness along with tingling, burning, or even shooting pain symptoms.
Because blood sugar can play a role in this type of bread, check your blood sugar levels over the past few weeks to see if there may be an upward trend toward high levels.
The relief is extremely important in these cases and can come from various applications. Massaging your feet or using a foot roller can sometimes reduce the level of pain. Anything you can do from a shoe perspective, like cushioned supports and inserts, can also help. Anything that helps mitigate the pressure and shock of daily activities on the foot and/or any rubbing or rubbing is beneficial. There are also prescription medications that your doctor can recommend that many times will work.
When the nerves to the muscles are affected by diabetes (motor neuropathy), the muscles will begin to feel weak and sore. Although the smaller muscles in the feet are not usually the first to be affected, your balance can eventually be affected, which can cause misalignment and/or rubbing of the feet, ultimately leading to pain. Support, exercise, stretching, and massage are your best weapon against motor neuropathy. Keeping your muscles healthy and flexible is a key element in relieving this type of foot pain.
Autonomic neuropathy affects nerves that we do not consciously control, hence the ‘auto’ of autonomic. With this existing condition, the triggers for sweating are disturbed and as such, you may suffer from dry or chapped skin. For your feet, this can result in a buildup of foot calluses, thickened toenails, and the like that lead to foot pain. Daily use of diabetes-specific conditioning agents may help or prevent this problem.
With people with diabetes, proper circulation is a primary concern. Circulation problems in the feet can cause severe pain. Treatment of circulation problems should always be done in conjunction with your doctor. Various approaches may include an exercise program, physical therapy, medication, or even surgical procedures, but again, check with your doctor before considering any strategy that involves addressing a circulation problem.
In people with diabetes, muscle and joint pain are not uncommon. If the tendons and joints begin to stiffen along with the imbalances associated with peripheral neuropathy and alignment for walking occurs, the foot and joints become painful. In fact, if the misalignments continue when walking, this can lead to other foot disorders such as calluses, bunions and hammer toe.
People living with diabetes are more susceptible to infections within their bodies because of the changes that have taken place in their bodies. If a bacterial infection attacks the foot, the foot may become red, swollen, hot, and painful. Keeping your immune system as healthy as possible through blood sugar control, proper nutrition, and exercise should be a top priority in your defense against infection.
If you have diabetes, in addition to considering the above information, please work closely with your primary care physician to ensure that you receive the appropriate information and care for your personal situation.