Feet and Diabetes: Common Questions

Feet and Diabetes: the questions people actually ask, answered from published guidance.

Key takeaways

• Annual foot check: part of routine diabetes care
• Why injuries are missed: neuropathy removes protective pain sensation
• Most useful single change: Check your feet daily, using a mirror for the soles.
• Commonest mistake: Walking barefoot, indoors or out.
• See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to get help" below apply to you.

What is Feet and Diabetes?

Daily checking and protection of the feet in anyone with diabetes.

Why does it matter?

Nerve damage removes the pain that would make you notice an injury, so small problems progress silently and can end in amputation.

Annual foot check for Feet and Diabetes?

Part of routine diabetes care.

Why injuries are missed for Feet and Diabetes?

Neuropathy removes protective pain sensation.

Any new ulcer for Feet and Diabetes?

Same-day referral to a foot protection service.

What is the single most useful thing to do?

Check your feet daily, using a mirror for the soles.

What is the most common mistake?

Walking barefoot, indoors or out.

When should I see a doctor?

Seek same-day medical advice for any break in the skin, ulcer, blister, colour change, swelling, unusual warmth, or new numbness in the feet. Foot infection in diabetes can progress within days. Go to A&E for a black area, spreading redness, fever, or a wound with discharge.

Where to go next

• Feet and Diabetes in Five Minutes
• What the Guidance Really Says About Feet and Diabetes
• Feet and Diabetes — the reference entry
• Plantar Heel Pain: Sorting the Evidence From the Noise
• Ingrown Toenails: What Published Guidance Supports

When to get help

Seek same-day medical advice for any break in the skin, ulcer, blister, colour change, swelling, unusual warmth, or new numbness in the feet. Foot infection in diabetes can progress within days. Go to A&E for a black area, spreading redness, fever, or a wound with discharge.

Where this comes from

• NICE — Diabetic foot problems
• Diabetes UK — looking after your feet

How this page was put together

Every figure, recommendation and warning above is taken from the guidance named in Where this comes from. Nothing on this page is inferred, summarised or generalised beyond what those bodies publish: where they give a number, it is their number, and where they are silent, so are we. Pages are rebuilt whenever the underlying record changes. Sign-off by a named clinician, where it has happened, is shown at the top of the page along with the date.

Medical disclaimer

This article is general information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your own history, medication or circumstances. Always speak to a GP, pharmacist or another qualified health professional before making changes that affect your treatment, and never delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read here. In an emergency, call 999.