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The proper prescription and utilization of therapeutic footwear is crucial to successful prevention of diabetic foot complications. The author reviews shoe alternatives' characteristics and proper fit. The concept of foot risk categories is explained and appropriate shoe selections are discussed.
Foot infection is the single most common reason for hospitalization of the diabetic patient. A combination of host factors, including neuropathy, angiopathy, and immunopathy, combine to make the diabetic foot infection the most severe infection commonly seen by podiatrists. If inadequately treated, the likelihood of morbidity or mortality is high. The presence of anaerobic bacteria as a predominant type of organism makes diagnosis and antibiotic selection complicated.
During walking, the center of body mass must pass from behind the weightbearing foot to in front of it. For this to take place, the foot must function as a sagittal plane pivot. Because the range required for this motion is approximately five times as great as both frontal and transverse plane motion, its evaluation should become an essential part of a podiatric biomechanical assessment. Lack of proper sagittal plane motion and its sequelae are described.
Aloe vera inhibits inflammation and adjuvant-induced arthritis. The authors' laboratory has shown that A. vera improves wound healing, which suggests that it does not act like an adrenal steroid. Diabetic animals were used in this study because of their poor wound healing and anti-inflammatory capabilities. The anti-inflammatory activity of A. vera and gibberellin was measured in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice by measuring the inhibition of polymorphonuclear leukocyte infiltration into a site of gelatin-induced inflammation over a dose range of 2 to 100 mg/kg. Both Aloe and gibberellin similarly inhibited inflammation in a dose-response manner. These data tend to suggest that gibberellin or a gibberellin-like substance is an active anti-inflammatory component in A. vera.
