Charcot’s foot is among the many problems which can occur in people that have diabetes mellitus. The increased blood sugar levels that happen in having diabetes have an impact on numerous body systems such as the eye, renal system and nerves. In long standing situations, especially when there's been an unsatisfactory control of the blood glucose levels, there is certainly injury to the nerves supplying the feet. This makes the feet in danger of complications because if something fails, you may not know it has gone wrong as you can not really feel it as a result of damage of the nerves. This may be something as simple as standing on a nail and that becoming infected and you are not aware that you've stood on the nail. It could be a blister or ingrown toenail that gets infected and also you are not aware that it's present on the foot until you take a look. This is the reason foot attention is so very important to those that have diabetes and the key reason why it is provided a great deal of focus. A Charcot foot is the destruction that occurs to the bones and joints if you have an injury and you have no idea that the damage has happened.
Another way of looking at it is to try to consider this way: imagine that you strain your ankle badly and you are not aware that you have because you do not experience the pain from it. After this you carry on and walk around on it. Just imagine all the additional damage that you do by walking around on it. The first you could discover that there is something wrong is when you sit down and look at the feet and you realize that one is much more swollen than the other. This is exactly what happens in individuals with diabetes who develop a Charcot’s foot. You can find some destruction, such as a ankle sprain or a progressive failure of the arch of the foot and as no pain is sensed they continue to walk around on it. It should be obvious simply how much additional harm which gets done to the initial damage before the issue is finally seen due to the swelling. At times there isn't much swelling, but the Charcots foot is found from the difference in temperatures between the two feet due to the inflamation related process in the injured foot that produces much more warmth.
The progression of a Charcot foot will have to be treated as somewhat of an emergency as the more it progresses the much more serious it will end up being and the more challenging it can be to handle. The individual really must stop all weightbearing right away or at the very least obtain a walking brace to ensure the injury is protected. For the not too critical situations and those cases that have been severe and have improved a very supportive orthotic in the shoe is necessary to support the foot and the injury. Commonly surgical procedures are required to realign the subluxed and dislocated joints. Probably the most major cases might end up with the foot and/or leg needing to be amputated as the trauma has been doing too much damage.