Ways To Protect Your Feet During Winter

People with diabetes must make serious lifestyle changes during the winter that other people don't have to worry about. Luckily, you can easily integrate changes into your lifestyle. Check out our five ways to protect your feet during winter here.

Keep Them Dry and Warm

Some footwear makes it exceptionally easy for winter cold and dampness to seep into your shoes and socks. This, combined with decreased circulation, can cause a diabetic foot ulcer—which isn't pleasant to deal with. Instead of dealing with cold and dampness, try to keep your feet dry and warm. You can best implement this by wearing the proper footwear.

Choose the Right Footwear

So how important is the right footwear? It's paramount. You need to ensure the footwear you choose gives you snow and ice protection and the appropriate padding tailored to your feet. This brings us to our next point: you should go somewhere other than your local footwear store for shoes. Instead, take a trip to your podiatrist or a footwear company specializing in women’s and men's diabetic slippers and shoes. You can get shoes perfectly tailored to your needs. Our diabetic shoes are available in a variety of sizes and widths which allows for the perfect, customized fit. They also feature a sturdy heel counter to reduce slippage and soft padding/lining to help avoid any potential irritation. They're sure to keep your feet feeling spectacular, so shop at Anodyne today!

Don't Burn Your Feet

It might be tempting to place your feet around a heater or fireplace to warm them, but this isn't a great idea. If you’re diabetic, you may experience numbness in your feet (a.k.a. neuropathy), so if you burn them, you may not know it. This can lead to serious damage, so ensure you inspect your feet regularly and keep them away from high-level heat sources like radiators, heating pads, and hot socks. This is one of the most important ways to protect your feet during winter.

Moisturize Your Feet

When you deal with diabetic nerve damage or poor circulation, this can cause a decrease in the moisturizing glands of your feet. Because of this, your skin could begin to crack and break down. It's also important not to go to your local pharmacy to pick up an over-the-counter moisturizer. Go to your podiatrist and ask them for a recommendation first.

Get Foot Exams

This is something you should do year-round. While you're supposed to get a foot exam once a year, you should pay special attention to your feet during the winter. If you experience numbness, burning, or pain, go to the doctor immediately. These issues demand immediate attention. Overall, diabetes is a beast of a condition, but with the right forethought, it should be simple enough to navigate. Luckily for you, we're here to help. Shop Anodyne today for all your footwear needs!