Basic At-Home Diabetes Foot CareLet's start with a couple of assumptions about your diabetes foot care. Great! We're on the same page! First though the usual disclaimer. You need to seek guidance and advice from your medical practitioner for everything being suggested here. We're not medical people. We're the enthusiasts, messengers and your cheerleaders passing on the best information we can find from qualified sources* to help you. *(you can get more complete information on diabetic foot care at eMedicineHealth. (opens new window). They're an excellent health information resource helping people on the web for over 12 years). Basic At Home Diabetes Foot Care Here are a few of the basic recommended things you can do at home to help with your diabetes foot care. Foot Examination - examine your feet every day and after any trauma you may experience no matter how minor you think it is. Trauma is just a fancy word for any sort of physical injury or bump to your feet. Tell your doctor about anything like this that happens. Put a water-based moisturizing cream on your feet every day except for between your toes. Avoid wearing elastic types of socks. They can cut off or impair your circulation without you being aware of it. Wear cotton or wool socks instead. Remove obstacles - get any items you're likely to trip over or bump into out of the way. Don't leave clutter on the floor and make sure where you walk is well lit - both during the day and at night. Trim Your Toenails - Cut your toenails regularly. Always use safety clippers (never scissors) and cut straight across. Leave plenty of room out from the quick or nail bed. Get help with this from your doctor, family member of partner if you have trouble with your vision or your hands. Footwear - make sure to wear sturdy and comfortable shoes wherever possible to help protect your feet. Please visit Choosing The Right Diabetic Shoes section for more detailed info on this. This is a major part of being able to enjoy walking even with your diabetes. Exercise - Regular exercise is really important. It's a great way to improve your bone and joint health in your feet and your legs. You can read more about the great benefits of this exercise and diabetes in our Diabetes Foot Pain & Walking section. Smoking - You probably know what's coming if you're a smoker don't you! Yup - smoking of any kind is NOT a good thing for diabetes foot care at all. Quitting smoking is one of THE best things you can do to help yourself. Smoking accelerates damage to your blood vessels, especially the very small blood vessels. Mess those up and you get poor circulation - a real biggie in foot infections for diabetics. Diabetes Control - So at the end of the day diabetes foot care and control of your diabetes includes:
There you have it. A very brief list. Some suggestions to help you look after your diabetic feet at home. Next Steps Want to learn more? You're welcome to visit eMedicineHealth as mentioned above. (new window). Another excellent resource is at the American Diabetes Association. (new window - available in Spanish also). 
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