Plantar load shifting in response to foreign body is impaired in patients with severe diabetic neuropathy
✍ Scribed by Uhlenbruck, C.
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 271 KB
- Volume
- 14
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1357-8170
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
In 14 diabetic patients with a history of neuropathic foot ulcers, dynamic foot pressure was measured during walking with and without a button‐shaped foreign body taped adjacent to the 1st metatarsal head. Center‐of‐pressure (COP) localisations were assessed in the metatarsal line, and shifting of plantar pressures between the medial and the lateral region of the forefoot were measured, and compared to 14 healthy control subjects matched for sex, age, and body weight. The results show a similar distribution of plantar peak pressures in the diabetic and the control forefeet without the foreign body. Walking on a foreign body induced load‐shifting from the medial to the lateral forefoot region, which was significant only in control subjects. Likewise, COP in the metatarsal line was significantly lateralised by 9.8 (95% Cl 6.7 to 110.8) mm in the control subjects, versus 3.4 (95% Cl −2.8 to 7.7) mm in the diabetic subjects (n.s.). All control subjects, but none of the patients felt uncomfortable while walking on the foreign body. Physiological load‐shifting to protect the planta pedis against injury from a foreign body is diminished in diabetic neuropathy.