Diabetic feet

[HeavyFoot]

Does anyone else on the forum run with feet affected by diabetes-related neuropathy?

I had my annual foot check this morning. It had got no worse over the year (mostly lack of feeling on my underheels and balls of my feet) but the tester did say that I shouldn’t be running or doing anything to endanger my feet.

I do pay great attention to my feet before and after runs for blisters or nail cuts, but this advice has quite rattled me.

[roseabi]

I can't answer your question, but I have been thinking about you, and thought I would share my thoughts.

People do have opinions when it comes to running and health, could be that you would get a different one from a different practitioner - but I imagine that the concerns expressed are reasonable and not to be dismissed lightly. I understand however that exercise, running included, is generally considered to be an excellent thing for management of diabetes. There are special considerations to be taken with respect to feet - you are clearly well aware of this, you check your feet carefully, and you choose comfortable shoes (Hoka, the most cushioned shoes available to humanity). I think that other things you could be doing to help your feet would include losing some weight if needed, and practising lower impact methods such as Japanese slow jogging, and running on softer surfaces such as grass, or woodland trails. I guess you need to be observant while running, and take extra care, perhaps by keeping all your runs short, because the neuropathy will affect your ability to know straight away if you have received an injury to your feet.

If you don't get any proper answers on here, I wonder if you have found the HU forum Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation? healthunlocked.com/drwfdiab... - might be worth asking your question there as well.

[HeavyFoot Graduate10 in reply to roseabi]

Thank you so much for your very detailed reply. I’ll certainly follow that link for advice. Best wishes