The nerves in your feet provide a natural alarm system. Diabetes can shut it off and result in undetected foot problems.

Your health care provider should check for problems with:

  • Circulation in your feet

  • Toenails and skin

  • Foot deformities

  • Footwear

  • Nerves in your feet

Report any foot lesions, discoloration, or swelling as soon as possible to help avoid foot complications due to nerve damage.

Help keep your feet healthy at home.

  • ✓Manage your blood glucose (blood sugar) and try to reach your A1C target.

  • ✓Eat a healthy diet.

  • ✓Regularly exercise or walk.

  • ✓Don’t smoke.

  • ✓Moisturize your skin (not between toes).

  • ✓Inspect feet daily (visually or by touch, bottoms and between toes).

  • ✓Never walk barefoot, even indoors.

  • ✓Wear well-fitting shoes and good socks.

  • ✓Inspect shoes inside and out before putting them on.

  • ✓Do not use corn plasters or wart removal medication.

  • ✓Do not soak your feet in water or with epsom salt.

  • ✓Check water temperature with your elbow before getting in a tub or shower.

This handout was published in Clinical Diabetes, Vol. 43, issue 1, 2025, and was adapted from American Diabetes Association handout, “Don’t Let Diabetes Get On Your Nerves.” Visit the Association’s Patient Education Library at https://professional.diabetes.org/clinical-support/patient-education-library for other free, downloadable handouts in several languages. Distribute these to your patients and share them with others on your health care team. © American Diabetes Association, Inc., 2025. Supported in part by the Diabetes-Related Peripheral Neuropathy Project.

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