Using a Thermometer to Detect Hot Spots on Your Feet

There is a new tool on the market to help diabetics detect hot spots early, before a foot ulcer develops. This new gadget is an infrared thermometer that measures temperature at various points on your feet. If the thermometer detects an above-average temperature, it is a sign that you need to put your feet up for a couple of days until the temperature normalizes.

What exactly is a hot spot? And why is it so bad? Hot spots might be a familiar problem to hikers and dancers. (Hint: it is what you feel before a blister develops!) They are points on your feet that are under pressure. These pressure points can lead to tissue breakdown and injury (like blisters, or breaks in the skin). But before the tissue breaks down, it heats up! This is standard procedure for your body. Injured tissue that becomes inflamed leads to a rise in temperature: the hot spot.

The thermometer is used to measure temperature at various points on both feet. If it detects a 4 degree deviation from the norm, you have a potential injury on your hands.

For diabetics, these hot spots are serious business. A couple of days after the hot spot, a blister or break in the skin will form. These minor injuries lead to foot ulcers (open wounds on the foot) that can lead to more serious infections and, in a worst-case scenario, amputation. In the United States alone, diabetics undergo 80,000 lower extremity amputations a year, many of which can be traced back to foot ulcers.

The thermometer is necessary because diabetics have lost their ability to feel pain and heat in their feet. Your average hiker will notice the hot spot on the back of her heel (it feels like someone is pressing a hot penny against your foot); but if that hiker has neuropathy related to diabetes, she will not.

Early studies done with the thermometer suggest that it will be very successful. In a study of 225 high-risk diabetic veterans at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, the thermometer reduced the number of patients who contracted foot ulcers by two-thirds.

The use of a foot thermometer represents a more active approach to preventing foot ulcers. Standard treatments include wearing comfortable, well-fitting shoes, using insoles made of plastazote (a material designed to change shape in an effort to accommodate pressure) and aggressive treatment of minor foot injuries.

About the Author:
Jane Barron works for OddShoeFinder.com,a free online website that helps people find mismatched footwear.Get more information on club foot, club feet or corrective shoes.