Getting foot health back on track

15/Oct/2020     Health

Foot Health Week runs from 12-18 October with this years’ theme of, ‘Get Back on Track - Fit feet for a better YOU’ which seeks to highlight how podiatrists help those who are inactive or limited by pain, get back to movement.

Mater Podiatrists Amy Jones and Prue Haslett work in the Podiatry and High-Risk Foot Clinic at the Queensland Diabetes and Endocrine Clinic (QDEC) with diabetes patients who have diabetic foot disease helping to get them back on track.

“We work in a multidisciplinary team of specialists to help patients with acute diabetic foot disease who experience pain and limited mobility through wound management, infection control, fitting correct footwear and offloading pressure on their limbs,” Prue said.    

“Diabetic foot disease is a serious problem which can impact between 12 to 30 per cent of people who have diabetes, if untreated it can lead to amputation and loss of limb. We actively work with our patients to avoid this as a well as unnecessary hospitalisations.

“To avoid complications with your feet we recommend our patients stay on top of their condition working with their GP and community podiatrist and seek help if they notice the condition beginning to worse.”

 Senior Podiatrist Amy said the podiatry team were well supported by other departments throughout the hospital including Vascular Surgery, Nephrology,  Infectious Disease and Orthopaedic Technicians who help them with casting for foot wounds.

“Offloading the pressure on wounds is one of the key elements in treating diabetic foot disease, casting is seen as the definitive standard therapy in helping with wound management,” Amy said.

“Helping our patients with appropriate footwear is crucial as some of our patients have such significant deformities in their feet that we need to make them customised footwear as traditional off the shelf shoes would not fit them.

“We have a representative from Hereen Footwear who attends clinic monthly with a 3D scanning machine to take an image of the foot and create custom-made footwear for the patient.  This is an exceptional service that significantly improves the quality of life for our patients.”  

For Foot Health Week Amy and Prue have stressed the importance of maintaining your foot health not just for those with chronic diseases.

“It’s incredibly important you have the correct footwear on, especially if you are standing for long periods of time. Make sure you take a break when you need to and see a podiatrist if you have any concerns,” Amy said.

Additional Information

To find out more about the High Risk Foot Clinic or the Mater Queensland Diabetes and Endocrine Centre (QDEC), you can visit the website here or call  07 3163 2500, referrals to the centre can be made through a GP here.

Public relations contacts

07 3163 6142