Daily care can prevent serious complications, and with approximately 85 per cent of diabetes-related amputations preventable, it’s important to check your feet daily for changes or problems, and visit a podiatrist annually for a check-up, or every three to six months if your feet are at high risk.

People who have feet with calluses or deformities have increased risk when poor feeling and/or decreased blood flow are also present.

Damage is also more likely if you have had diabetes for a long time, your blood glucose levels have been too high for an extended period, you smoke (smoking causes a reduced blood flow to your feet, so wounds heal slowly) or you’re inactive.

Low risk feet have normal sensation and good blood flow. However it is important to know that low risk feet can become high risk feet without symptoms, so regular checks are still as important.

Poor blood glucose control can cause nerve damage to feet. Symptoms include numbness, coldness of the legs, a tingling, pins and needles sensation in the feet, and burning pains in the legs and feet (usually more noticeable in bed at night).

These symptoms can result in a loss of sensation in the feet, which increases the risk of accidental damage because you can’t feel any pain. An injury to the feet can develop into an ulcer on the bottom of a foot, which can penetrate to the bone.

Poor blood glucose control can also cause a reduced supply of blood to the feet. This makes people with diabetes more prone to infection following any injury that breaks the skin.

Signs of poor blood supply include sharp leg cramps after walking short distances or up stairs, pain in the feet (even while resting and often in the early hours of the morning), feet feeling cold or looking a reddish-blue colour, and cuts which are slow to heal. See your podiatrist, doctor or Credentialled Diabetes Educator if you have any of these symptoms.