If you have diabetes, you know that you need to keep your blood sugar in check. You know you need to eat right and maintain a healthy weight. Hopefully, you also know to look over your feet every day. However, if you are experiencing numbness in your feet (common with diabetes), you may not know if you sustain an injury, and in this case especially, what you don’t know could hurt you!
If you can’t feel your feet, that means you can’t feel excessive heat, shoes rubbing, sharp objects being stepped on, or even a tiny scratch. Being unaware of an injury puts you at serious risk as the problem will likely go unnoticed, thus untreated. Even injuries that start out small can quickly snowball into big trouble with major consequences including amputation. Here’s why:
Diabetes is not only associated with nerve damage causing tingling, pain, burning and numbness in your feet, but the condition can negatively affect your circulation as well. Already, blood takes a long time to travel all the way to your feet, but with diabetes, blood flow is slowed even more which means the nutrients needed to heal foot injuries have a hard time reaching their destination. The longer it takes for a wound to heal, the stronger the chances are of a dangerous infection. All the more reason to address nerve damage as soon as possible and keep a close eye on those feet of yours!
Fortunately, there are ways to manage symptoms of numbness in your feet, as well as the tingling and burning sensations often experienced with it. Controlling your blood sugar, exercising, and making healthy lifestyle choices, like not smoking and limiting alcohol, are all ways you can encourage nerve health. When nerves are healthy, they’re able to send messages to your brain, which allows you to feel your feet again and know if something happens to them.
Call us to find out more or if you need help with a foot injury you didn’t realize you had. You can reach our Bloomington, IN office by dialing (812) 333-4422.
Get in the know about numbness in your feet, so it doesn’t get in the way of activities you enjoy — or worse, get you into a dangerous situation!
