Diabetic Footwear: Finding the Right Fit

Find the Right Shoes for Diabetes

By Tony Rehagen
WebMD Feature

When he was diagnosed with diabetes in 1990 at age 23, Patrick Marshall was not all that surprised. His father had diabetes; so did his grandfather. He knew that exercise was key to keeping his blood glucose in check. So he started a walking routine that, along with a healthy diet, helped him to get his diabetes under control.

Even so, 20 years after his diagnosis, Marshall began to have nerve damage and loss of feeling in his legs and feet. Still, he kept walking regularly. Then, one day, as he was drying off after a shower, he noticed what looked like a boil on the ball of his left foot. “At first I thought, ‘Oh, this will go away,’” he recalls. “But after 2 or 3 days, it only got worse.”

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Marshall went to the doctor, who told him the bump on his foot was actually an ulcer that had become infected. And it was spreading. If he’d waited any longer, his doctor said, he would’ve had to have gotten his foot amputated.

Fortunately, the doctors only had to remove a small bone in one of his toes. But to prevent another dangerous sore, Marhsall’s doctor referred him to a foot doctor, Katherine M. Raspovic, DPM, who fit him with custom-made shoes and inserts to protect his feet. “It’s funny how one thing -- picking the right shoes -- can make all the difference,” she says.

What Difference Do Shoes Make?

Even though diabetes has become a widespread problem (more than 9% of Americans have it), many people, even those who live with the disease, don’t fully understand what it can do to your feet.

When it’s not controlled, it can cause nerve damage and loss of blood flow, both of which can lead to a loss of feeling in the feet. That means that if there’s a stone, coin, or even a wadded up sock in your shoe, you wouldn’t feel it rubbing against your skin. Over time, it could create a blister or sore that could become infected.

Even worse, nerve damage can cause your feet to change shape. “Your toes start to bend and curl, squishing together in shoes that are too tight,” Raspovic says. “You should never put on a shoe and feel discomfort and say, ‘Oh, I’ll break this in.’”

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