Take A Seat & Check Your Feet

Introduction

Every day, 250 adults lose a leg to diabetes. Yet, 70% of those amputations could have been prevented. Both diabetes and peripheral artery disease put your feet at risk because they reduce blood flow to the feet. Both conditions raise the risk of amputation.

Check Your Feet Every Day

Check the top and bottom of your feet. Check your toes and between your toes. Check your toenails. Look and feel for:

• Bumps, lumps, blisters or bruises
• Cuts, sores or cracked skin; even the tiniest crack can become infected
• Patches of thin or shiny skin, or areas of redness
• Temperature differences (one part warm, another cold); these can signal lack of blood flow
• Pain, tingling, numbness or no feeling at all; these can signal nerve problems
• Ingrown toenails with red, puffy skin along the nail, and tenderness or pain
• Loss of hair on foot or leg

If you have any of these conditions, seek medical care immediately. Your foot is at risk.

Foot Health Tips

Check your feet. The best time is after a bath or shower. When your feet are dry, sit in a well-lit room. Use a mirror, if needed, to inspect the bottom of your feet.

Only wear properly fitting shoes and socks. If your toes feel too close together, if your heel moves up and down in the shoe, your shoes may not fit properly.

Socks should feel comfortable inside the shoe, hold their shape, move sweat away from the feet, and have padding that protects the ball and heel of the foot.

Don’t wear the same shoes and/or socks every day. Change shoes every other day. Wear clean socks every day.

For Feet at Risk

If you have diabetes or any other condition that limits blood flow to your feet:

• Don’t walk barefoot. You may step on something and not feel it, increasing the risk of injury and/or infection.
• Don’t use very hot water or heating pads on your feet. You may burn yourself and not feel it.
• Put suntan lotion on your feet. This will protect your skin from sunburn.

About the Amputee Coalition

The Amputee Coalition is a donor-supported, nonprofit voluntary health organization serving more than 5.6 million people with limb loss and limb difference, and more than 28 million people at risk for amputation in the United States.

For more information, please call 888-267-5669 or visit the Amputee Coalition’s website at http://www.amputee-coalition.org.

Acknowledgements

This project was supported, in part, by grant number 90LL0001-01-00, from the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.