Diabetic Foot Pain

Diabetic foot pain is one of those symptoms or complaints many people with diabetes complain about. It is simply a way that your body tells you to get your glucose level under control or face some serious trouble. It is important to note that diabetic foot pain is just a part of wider diabetic foot issues that are common in diabetic patients. However do not forget that a minor diabetic foot pain could result to something very serious if not well handled. Diabetes has the ability to damage the nerves of the feet and impede blood circulation and this can result in foot pains.

What Does Diabetic Foot Pain Feel Like?

Diabetic foot pain is very painful for people who suffer from diabetics. This is because as mentioned above, diabetes can damage the nerves of the foot and when this happens, there is always a possibility of having blood circulation around the foot impeded. It could lead to the feeling of numbness or burning pain in the foot. This is to say that a lot of people who have diabetic foot pain will likely have stiff joints and may likely bleed since the ability of the blood to clout is decreased.

Therefore, this kind of situation makes it difficult for wounds to heal or in some cases makes it much slower for wounds to heal. It is important to note that the decreasing nerve function on the foot makes the situation very tricky in the sense that there are some people who could have some foot wound without even knowing it. Diabetic foot pains feels like some other severe pains around the body but the difference in this case is that the stakes are higher here due to the complications of diabetes. People who suffer from diabetic foot pain tend to focus more on effectively managing the diabetes problem in general since it is a fall out on diabetics.

Symptoms

The symptoms that this presents arise due to the combination of reduced blood flow and nerve damage. Some of these symptoms include cellulitis which is the infection of the tissues found beneath the skin of the foot. Another common symptom is the osteomyelitis and this is the infection of the bone. Other important symptoms to watch out for include:

• Calluses and Corns: Likely to develop due to abnormal alignment of the foot
• Hammertoes or simply called bent toes which happen as a result of muscle weakness
• Cracking of the foot skin due to dryness
• Tinea Pedis which is simply the infection of the skin of the foot

Causes of Diabetic Foot Pain

There are a lot of causes for diabetic foot pain. Some of the most possible causes include:

• Poor Circulation in feet: One of the effects of diabetes in this situation is poor blood circulation. In this case, blood circulation is impeded to a very large extent and this could cause pains. In fact, it is regarded as a vascular disease in which blood flowing to the foot is severely restricted. Apart from the pains that come with it, having a poor blood circulation is also what makes foot wounds difficult to heal.
• High Blood Sugar: There is absolutely no doubt that blood sugar management is very important for diabetic patients. The high level of glucose is one of the causes of diabetic foot pains in the sense that it is capable of slowing down the healing process of foot wounds and this can lead to severe pains. People suffering from diabetes especially the diabetes type 2 will always find it difficult fighting infections from wounds due to this problem.
• Nerve Damage: This is one of the causes of diabetic foot pains in most of the cases. Nerve damage can be described as one of the causalities of the diabetes problem. This is a serious problem and can even lead to loss of sensation on the foot. It is important to note that nerve damage can lead to painful or tingly feelings at first. However, this can also reduce the foot pain sensitivity and in some cases lead to painless wounds likely to cause an ulcer.
• Irritated or Wounded Foot: This is another cause of diabetic foot pains in most people. The irritation of the foot can cause severe pains that are likely not to go away until the underlying diabetic problem is handled properly. Unfortunately, wounds on the foot may become difficult to heal due to the poor circulation mentioned above and this adds to the pains.

Treatment

Not treating diabetic foot pain can result in even more severe foot problems and conditions. This is why it becomes important to treat this condition without any delay. There are several ways that can be used in the treatment of diabetic foot pains. They are but not limited to the following:

Off-Loading Method

The off-loading method simply means staying off your foot to prevent pains and it is helpful for every kind of foot problems. It is important to note that the pressure from walking can make the foot pain even worse than expected. If the pains is a result of a foot wound, then additional pressure will make the wound expand and infection become worse in the process. This will affect people especially the overweight type since the extra pressure they carry can aggravate the pains.

In addition, your doctor could treat the foot pains by encouraging you to wear certain items like braces, casts, diabetic shoes, shoe insert which aims to prevent things like calluses and corns and even compression wraps. The doctor will evaluate the pain and condition of your body to determine which kind of treatment will suit your body and produce the desired effect. This means that different diabetic foot pains can be handled differently.

If the foot pains is as a result of a diabetic foot ulcer, then debridement can be used to treat the condition. In this case, it will mean a removal of foreign object, dead skin or even infections that may have caused the problem in the first place.

Your doctor may also prescribe antibiotic, anti-clotting medications to treat the wound if they are the sources of the diabetic foot pain that have progressed from minor to sever pains.

Home Remedies

Home remedies for diabetic foot pain may help you reduce the nerve pain as well as heal wounds or injuries to the foot faster. It is important that you do not ignore any injury to your foot if you are diabetic because it could lead to serious problems which include amputation in extreme cases. It is important that you see your doctor and get appropriate medication. However, there are some home remedies you can utilize to keep yourself out of foot diabetic foot pains.

Zinc

It is important to note that zinc remains a very essential mineral which supports healing of wounds and injuries in the body. Unfortunately, people who suffer from diabetes have this essential mineral depleted from their body and this causes wounds not to heal easily. To regain zinc and solve foot pain problems, it is advisable to take a daily multivitamin mineral supplement which has the required dosage of zinc.

External Ointments

This is another important home remedy to utilize for this purpose. The ointment could be one from tea tree or calendula oil. You can use this against minor cuts or scrapes on the foot. Any ointment or gel as long as it contains tea tree oil, lemongrass oil or calendula should work for this purpose. This ointment has been proven to kill some bacteria or prevent them from growing. There are other supplements that can be used at home to tackle the diabetic foot pain problems. However, it is important to always consult your healthcare practitioner to provide direction in these cases because of the consequences of not handling it properly.

Pain Relief

In order to relief your diabetic foot pain problems, there are some certain things you could adopt:

• You could take load off your foot. For example, if you are standing for a long time, it will be better to incorporate some breaks regularly and take some pressure off the foot. You can try elevating the foot to an angle of 45 degrees and allow it in the same position for some minutes to reduce chances of swelling.
• Soak the foot for some time to relieve the pain. You can place your foot in warm water mixed with salt and allow it soak for about 10 minutes. This helps ease sore and tired muscles of the foot.
• Another way to relief diabetic foot pain is through hot and cold therapy. Run water on your foot while sitting on the edge of the bath. You can alternate in between cold and hot water allowing each for a little time. However, end the therapy with cold water.
• Finally a massage can be helpful for foot pain relief. Get your foot massaged with oil and relief the pain immediately.