Diabetes can hurt your feet as a result of the high blood glucose levels from diabetes.  Two of the problems that can occur include nerve damage and poor blood flow.  Nerve damage or diabetic neuropathy is quite simply damage to nerves in your legs and feet.  You may not feel pain, heat, or cold in your legs and feet.

You may be unaware of a sore or cut on your foot

The resultant nerve damage can lead to a sore or an infection.  Poor blood flow which is the second problem that can happen is when there is not enough blood flowing to your legs and feet.  This condition is called peripheral vascular disease or PVD.  As a result of the poor blood flow, it is harder for a sore or infection to heal.  To complicate this, if you continue to smoke after having been diagnosed with diabetes, the blood flow programs increase.

The above conditions together can result in foot pain as illustrated in the following scenario:  You get a blister from shoes that do not fit. You do not feel the pain from the blister because you have nerve damage in your foot.  The blister now gets infected. If your blood glucose is high, the extra glucose feeds the germs, the germs grow and the infection gets worse. Poor blood flow to your legs and feet can slow down healing.  Occasionally the bad infection doesn’t heal and infection sets in which may in turn cause gangrene. If a person has gangrene, the skin and tissue around the sore die and the area becomes black and smelly.  In order to keep the gangrene from spreading, a doctor may have to do surgery to cut off a toe, foot, or part of a leg.

Daily foot care is key to maintaining good health.  These include examining your feet every day to check for problems.  Check for cuts, sores, blisters, redness, calluses, or other problems.  Washing your feet in warm water and make sure that the water is not too hot.  Do not soak your feet and dry your feet well, especially between your toes.  If you have dry skin, rub lotion on your feet after they are washed and dried.  File corns or calluses gently with an emery board or a pumice stone after your bath or shower.  Keep your toenails cut on a weekly basis.  It is best to cut them after a bath when they are soft from washing. Cut them to the shape of the toe and not too short, filing the edges with an emery board.