A good idea is to keep your walking elder in shoes and socks around the house. This will prevent them from injuring their feet. This is especially true if your elder is a diabetic. A diabetic or just any elder in general can have issues with their feet and not even know that they are having a problem. Diabetics are extremely at risk because they don't feel as well due to possible nerve damage caused by high blood sugar levels.
The lack of feeling in the feet is called diabetic neuropathy. Another issue that diabetic can encounter is peripheral vascular disease (PVD). PVD occurs because you don't have enough blood flow to the legs and feet. A major cause of PVD is smoking. Smoking makes blood flow problems much worse. The carbon monoxide from the smoke damages a layer of cells that coats the lining of blood vessels allowing the plaque to stick to the walls of the vessels. This in turn doesn't allow proper blood circulation to the legs and feet. For example if your elder is walking around barefooted and they step on a splinter of wood, they may not feel that there is a splinter in the foot and it become infected. The elevated sugar level in their blood feeds the infection causing it to get worse and could get into the blood stream. We don't want that to happen, so keep those tootsies covered and protected.
Posted by Mary on November 10, 2008 at 10:53 AM under
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