Therapeutic smart-footwear approach for management of neuropathic diabetic foot ulcers: Current challenges and focus for future perspective

Abstract

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) have been connected to rising global mortality rates. An increased plantar tissue stress beneath the numb foot of neuropathy patients is associated with DFU. This article summarises essential therapeutic footwear concepts for the treatment of DFUs and shows how new sensor technologies have made this possible. People with neuropathic DFUs can address their foot problems with therapeutic footwear without being constrained in their daily activities. This intervention in maintaining DFUs must be discrete, power-efficient, accurate, and user-friendly in order to offer a trustworthy and acceptable way for effective health monitoring. The device can be inserted into a person's shoes from the plantar aspect of the foot to gather more information about their health. The findings showed that weight-bearing activities and sensor offloading devices can be employed as effective offloading therapies to heal DFU. This article examines the therapeutic footwear-based technological sensor system, which keeps track of many elements that are helpful in tracking foot ulcers, available treatments, and potential research areas in the future.

Keywords

• Diabetic foot ulcer
• Therapeutic footwear
• Sensors
• Neuropathy
• Plantar pressure