What Makes A Good Diabetic Shoe

Diabetes is one of the most widespread problems that affects American’s these days and if you were to ask any doctor about how to deal with diabetes they would probably tell you that you need to manage your blood sugar levels better without any deviation as elevated blood sugar levels slowly damage the body and magnify the effects of the condition as the years pass by.

The doctor would next tell you that you should eat better, lose weight, and get more exercise as each of these actions can help dramatically in managing blood sugar levels. Better food can minimize blood sugar swings from extreme to extreme, a healthier weight can improve your body’s ability to react as it should to insulin, and exercising more often can be the single best thing you can do to improve insulin resistance and improve your management of blood sugar.

The problem however which plagues many diabetics is that exercise is often quite hard on the feet as many diabetics are not in the best shape and diabetes tends to damage the feet and lower limbs before other areas of the body. This damage alone can make physical activity more difficult. This is why it is very important for you as a diabetic to wear the right shoes when you exercise. A proper pair of diabetic shoes can make a world of difference in protecting your feet and aiding in healthy exercise as a part of a diabetes management program.

So if diabetic shoes are important what is it then that makes them important and what makes a good pair of diabetic shoes as opposed to a bad pair of shoe? The answers to these questions may be a bit confusing to someone new to the concept but the answer is actually quite simple and it easily refers back to the basics of how diabetes manifests itself in your body.

When you have diabetes and your blood sugar levels get too high due to poor blood sugar control a couple of main things happens to your feet. Over the course of time and many repeated periods of elevated blood sugar levels diabetes will slowly start damaging the nerves in the feet and lower limbs and will also slowly start damaging the blood vessels causing blood flow in the area to decrease.

Now, these affects can or will be felt on other areas of the body but the most common place for them to be noticed is the feet. And because the feet are so integral to a proper exercise regimen it is vastly important to take care of the problem where it is most problematic. Nerve damage caused by high blood sugar is known as diabetic neuropathy. This condition is serious because it decreases the sensation one feels in the feet and lower leg area. This means that whenever a foot injury begins to appear such as a blister, cut, or some other kind of sore a person with diabetic nerve damage in their feet will not feel the pain or know of the injury until it is more advanced.

This is bad obviously but the problem is exacerbated when blood flow to the same region is slowed due to thinning of the arteries due to diabetes complications. With a decrease in blood flow also comes a decrease in the body’s ability to heal and fight infection. Naturally when a body part is more apt to be damaged and less able to heal, infection can become a big concern. For people with diabetes they have to be constantly aware of the health of their feet and constantly ready to protect at risk feet and aid in the healing process of damaged feet and your shoes play a major role in this process.

The best diabetic shoes will focus on a few things that are important to diabetic feet: they will protect feet from harm and will help promote circulation. Additionally good diabetic shoes will usually be shaped slightly different than standard shoes because the diabetic foot tends to be a bit bigger and malformed as wear and tear on the diabetic foot are more serious than on healthy people who are not suffering from diabetes.

In general when you are looking for a good diabetic shoe you need to look for an increased width and depth in the shoe to allow more room for larger feet. Your shoe should fit snug and tight so that it doesn’t rub and cause blisters but it shouldn’t be so tight that it diminishes circulation. Most diabetic shoes will be seamless or nearly seamless inside the shoe to limit pressure points and the insoles will generally be custom fitted to conform exactly to your foot’s shape in further efforts to minimize pressure and increase comfort.

Without comfort and protection your feet can’t stay in good enough shape to allow you to exercise as you should. With diabetes it is incredibly important to exercise and manage your blood sugar levels as best as possible and going out of your way and buying the best diabetic shoes possible should be worth it for your lasting health. There are of course many other facets to proper diabetic foot care but keeping the right shoes on your feet is among the most fundamental of them all. For more on the subject of diabetic foot care bestshoesfordiabetics.com offers a lot of free information and may be able to help you understand the importance of this topic in more depth.

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