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BODYCAST - THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE CSOT Alternative
immobilization using FRC for the diabetic foot Abstract Problem wounds of the lower extremity are usually associated with patients with diabetes due to vascular diseases and peripheral neuropathy. The type 1 diabetic patient is normally diagnosed during the first two decades of life, but can develop the disease up to age 40. Patients with diabetes tend to start losing good vascular flow and sensation to the lower extremity. Once a patient has vascular insufficiencies and peripheral neuropathy it becomes more difficult to heal the wound. The cost in medical expenditures and lost productivity was over $132 billion in 2002 and continues to rise yearly. Direct medical costs for diabetes were more than $91 billion in 2002. There are an estimated 17 million Americans who have diabetes, and this number continues to rise every year. Fifteen per cent of patients with diabetes develop a foot ulcer and 20 per cent of hospital admissions are a diabetic foot-related problem. Sixty per cent of non-traumatic lower extremity amputations are diabetic-related surgeries and, during 2000 through 2001, more than 80,000 lower limb amputations were performed on patients with diabetes.
This abstract is a portion of the article
which appears in the Winter 2006 issue of BodyCast.
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