Six years after introducing the consumer version of our ShearBan® product for friction & shear relief, the staff at Tamarack truly enjoys the customer contact and loyalty we’ve witnessed with ENGO® Blister Prevention Patches. All the phone calls, emails and letters we receive are encouraging signs that a small company can make a big impact […]

The American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists 36th Annual Meeting and Symposium is coming up soon – Feb 24-27, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. You can view the program at www.academyannualmeeting.org. If you see patients with diabetic / neuropathic foot problems and are looking for an edge in ways to address commonly seen problems, please consider […]

Diabetic foot ulcers are deadly according to a recent study from Norway. After adjusting for demographic and lifestyle factors, people with diabetes and a history of foot ulcers were 2.3 times more likely to die during follow-up than were non-diabetic subjects. Among those subjects with diabetes, foot ulcer history was associated with a 38% increased […]

Diabetes in India is exploding. The Diabetes Atlas estimates India had 40 million people with diabetes and will have over 70 million by 2025. According to a November 14, 2009, article on the Punjab Newsline Network, India has very few podiatrists, diabetic counselors, and dieticians. Therefore the burden of care will fall on general practitioners […]

What kinds of socks should people with diabetes wear? There is lots of bad advice about diabetic socks on the worldwide web. However, you don’t expect that bad advice to come from the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC makes this recommendation to people with diabetes: “When you exercise, wear cotton socks […]

An article I recently read in Lower Extremity Review, entitled Diabetes: Improving foot care compliance1 discusses the challenge practitioners’ face in keeping foot care top-of-mind with their patients. The Total Contact Cast (TCC) is the “gold standard” for healing diabetic foot ulcers.  However, very few practitioners prescribe them.  Moreover, patients are resistant to using the […]

A recent article in the November 2009 issue of The O&P Edge, entitled “Getting a Grip on Peripheral Neuropathy” offers detailed information on the cause, and management of the various forms of peripheral neuropathy (PN). While PN is surely not limited to diabetes, the progression the disease brings a tidal wave of concerns, many of […]

Recently published research out of Japan highlights the potential risk that calluses pose to people with diabetic neuropathy. A group at the University of Tokyo looked at signs of inflammation under calluses on diabetic and non-diabetic feet (Nishide et al. 2009). The Tokyo group used ultrasonographic and thermographic imaging techniques to find evidence of traumatized […]

A hot spot on the diabetic foot may indicate that an ulcer is about to form. Recent research has focused on foot temperature and inflammation as ways to predict ulcer formation. “Heat is one of the most sensitive things, one of the first things that happens when we begin to have tissue breakdown,” according to […]