Diabetic foot wounds heal at a slower rate than in healthy individuals, which increases the chance of infection, and may lead to complications that require amputation in extreme cases. Coming to their rescue, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in association with the Karnataka Institute of Endocrinology and Research (KIER), has developed a set of self-regulating footwear for diabetic.
The footwear developed by the Department of Mechanical Engineering’s IISc-led team is 3D printed and can be customized to an individual’s foot dimensions and walking style.
“Unlike conventional therapeutic footwear, a snapping mechanism in these sandals keeps the feet well-balanced, enabling faster healing of the injured region and preventing injuries from arising in other areas of the feet,” said Pavan Belehalli, Head, Department of Podiatry, KIER, and one of the authors of the study published in Wearable Technologies.
The footwear can be especially beneficial for people who have diabetic peripheral neuropathy – those who suffer from nerve damage caused by diabetes, leading to a loss of sensation in the foot. “Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is one of the long-term complications of diabetes, and its diagnosis is mostly neglected. The lack of sensation results in irregular walking patterns in persons with diabetes,”
For example, a healthy person usually places their heel first on the ground, followed by the foot and toes, and then the heel again. Such a ‘gait cycle’ distributes the pressure evenly across the foot. But due to the loss of sensation, persons with diabetes may not always follow this sequence, which means that the pressure is unevenly distributed. Regions of the foot where the pressure exerted is high are at greater risk of developing ulcers, corns, calluses and other complications, stated the researchers.
There are several varieties of therapeutic footwear in the market. But the researchers observed that it is seen to be ineffective at off-loading the uneven pressure exerted by the ‘abnormal’ gait cycle of persons with diabetes. “When we remove the pressure, the arch will automatically come back to its initial position which is known as self-offloading,” explained Priyabrata Maharana, PhD student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IISc and first author.
Now the team is collaborating with start-ups like Foot Secure and Yostra Labs to commercialise their product. This footwear can be used not only by diabetic neuropathy cases, but by others too,” said Prof Ananthasuresh.