For those of us with diabetes, having a very comfortable shoe is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. Since diabetes can damage the nerves and blood vessels in your feet, the best possible shoe becomes even more important. To avoid blisters, ulcers and other wounds that could lead to serious complications, take your time in choosing the shoes that suit both your lifestyle and health needs.
Why selecting the right shoe is important
“Pressure and neuropathy along with the possibility of foot deformities can lead to ulceration,” notes Dr. Han Pham Hulen, medical director at Medical City Dallas Wound Care in Texas. Relieving the pressure and protecting the foot from injury are two of the ways that the right shoe can help ensure a lower rate of complications.
For those of us with diabetes, having a very comfortable shoe is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. Since diabetes can damage the nerves and blood vessels in your feet, the best possible shoe becomes even more important. To avoid blisters, ulcers and other wounds that could lead to serious complications, take your time in choosing the shoes that suit both your lifestyle and health needs.
Why selecting the right shoe is important
“Pressure and neuropathy along with the possibility of foot deformities can lead to ulceration,” notes Dr. Han Pham Hulen, medical director at Medical City Dallas Wound Care in Texas. Relieving the pressure and protecting the foot from injury are two of the ways that the right shoe can help ensure a lower rate of complications.
Our group, Wound Integrity was founded by Han Pham Hulen, MD. UHM/ABPM. Dr. Hulen was the prior Chief Executive Officer of Wound Integrity but remains as a founding Board Member. Dr. Hulen “fell into” wound care in 2007 after training at UT Southwestern Medical Center in infectious diseases and found that there was a high need for integrating wound care with advanced therapies in medicine. She saw that the psychological, emotional, and physical impact of patients dealing with chronic problem wounds including those who lost limbs due to unnecessary amputations created a need for physician advocacy that at that point, was unmet. After completing both her Board certifications in internal medicine (in 2005) and infectious disease medicine (in 2007), she committed her career to wound care and hyperbaric medicine and in 2010, she completed her Board certification in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine. Dr. Hulen then decided to pursue her life’s passion in training physicians who would also choose to join her in this grassroots effort of patient advocacy.
Dr. Hulen envisions that the future of Wound Integrity encompasses the growth and education of providers who believe in practicing advanced wound care and hyperbaric medicine and hopes to bring this vision to a national level in order to bring to light the need for patient advocacy in this very young field of medicine.
