Diabetic seniors can take steps to keep mobility
Reid Wound Healing Center offers tips during National Diabetes Month
Arthritis and brittle bones cause many seniors to lose mobility. More than one in five diabetics 60 and older could face another potential challenge to independence: diabetic foot ulcers that can lead to amputations.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 60 percent of lower-limb amputations not caused by trauma occur in people with diabetes. In 2004, nearly 71,000 such amputations took place.
"The good news is that comprehensive foot care programs can reduce amputation rates by 45 to 85 percent," said Katherine J. Rowland, chief clinical officer for National Healing Corporation, which partners with hospitals around the nation to treat chronic wounds.
Reid Wound Healing Center, a National Healing Wound Healing Center, offers these preventive tips:
- Leg and foot blood vessels can narrow and harden due to diabetes. Help fight poor circulation by keeping blood pressure and cholesterol under control. Something as simple as not crossing your legs can also improve blood flow.
- Risk factors are highest for those with longer duration of the disease who use insulin and who smoke. Stop smoking and control glucose levels – an A1c blood test can give you on overview of your average glucose levels and, typically, every percentage point drop in test results can reduce the risk of microvasular complications by 40 percent.
- Ask your health care provider for a thorough foot examination and add it to your check-up routine.
- Diabetes can cause reduced sensation in the lower limbs, making it hard to know if you have an injury. Check your feet daily and look between your toes for blisters, cuts and scratches. Use an unbreakable mirror for hard-to-see areas or ask someone to help you.
- Changes that diabetes can cause in the skin of your feet include dryness and calluses, which occur more often and build up faster. Do not use chemical agents to remove calluses and corns since they can further damage skin. See a healthcare professional to remove pieces of skin.
- Wear clean seamless socks and proper footwear. Medicare and many health care providers will reimburse a certain amount of money for shoes and custom inserts prescribed by a doctor.
- Seek medical treatment if a leg or foot wound has not healed in 30 days or shows signs of infection such as increased pain, redness or swelling, foul wound odor or a change in color or amount of drainage from.
A leader in wound healing and disease management, Reid Wound Healing Center is located at 1380 Chester Blvd. Richmond, Indiana. Call 765-983-3300
