Podiatrists play a key role in providing appropriate foot care for people with diabetes. A person with diabetes should have a comprehensive diabetic foot examination by a podiatrist on a yearly basis. Depending on the findings on the comprehensive diabetic foot examination based on the risk status of the person, a regular schedule of foot care should be set up.

For those persons with diabetes and no risk--yearly foot examinations are fine. For others, depending on their risk status they may need to be seen more frequently. This is the basis for regular scheduled examinations and foot care, but any acute problems should be evaluated immediately.

The greatest danger is for those with diabetes that have lost the ability to sense pain in other words they have the loss of protective sensation (peripheral neuropathy). These persons need to be extremely careful and have their feet inspected daily by themselves or a family member to look for any areas of redness, irritation, cuts etc.

Effective prevention of diabetes patients includes regular foot examinations, risk stratification, and appropriate shoe-gear recommendations. Treatment includes surgical modalities with a focus on biomechanical faults that often precede ulcer information. Regular callus debridement to prevent increases in focal pressures can reduce the likelihood of ulcer formation.

Conservative biomechanical strategies, including the use of functional and accommodative orthoses and bracing can be the difference between limb salvage and limb loss. Surgical offloading through tendon rebalancing, osseous reconstruction, and functional distal foot amputations are key components of this approach to limb salvage.

Podiatrists additionally play an essential role in reducing the recurrence of wounds after the initial wound has healed by addressing the biomechanical forces that were the cause of the original wound.