Stepease™ diabetic socks: An answer to efficacious indoor foot pressure relief- A prospective study

Soh EZF 1 , Htwe O 2 , Naicker AS 3 , Nasirabadi AR 4 , Ghazali MJ 5 , Mohd Mustafah N 6 Show all authors , Elamvazuthi I 7 , Yuliawiratman BS 8 , Naicker MS 9

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 56000, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: elainesoh86@gmail.com
  • 2 Rehabilitation Medicine Unit, Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia. Electronic address: htwe.om@gmail.com
  • 3 Rehabilitation Medicine Unit, Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia. Electronic address: asnaicker@yahoo.com
  • 4 Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: arminrajabi@gmail.com
  • 5 Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: mariyam@ukm.edu.my
  • 6 Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh, 47000, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: nadiamustafah@gmail.com
  • 7 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia. Electronic address: irraivan_elamvazuthi@utp.edu.my
  • 8 Rehabilitation Medicine Unit, Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia. Electronic address: brendasaria@gmail.com
  • 9 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: mala.naicker@gmail.com
J Tissue Viability, 2020 May;29(2):104-109.
PMID: 32014382 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtv.2020.01.005

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Diabetic foot ulcer is commonly seen in people with diabetes mellitus. Inadequate plantar pressure offloading has been identified as a contributing factor to development of diabetic foot ulcers. Various pressure off-loading footwear are widely available in the market but poor compliance has been reported especially for indoor usage. StepEase™ diabetic socks have been designed using Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) microspheres for better redistribution of plantar pressure. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of StepEase™ in redistributing the foot plantar pressure and to assess patients' satisfaction on the usage of the socks.

METHODS: This was a prospective non randomized clinical trial conducted on 31 patients with diabetes mellitus with high risk foot (King's classification stage II) over a 12 weeks period. Dynamic foot plantar pressure reading was recorded at day 0, 6 weeks and 12 weeks intervals, both barefoot and with StepEase™, using Novel Pedar-X system (Novel GmbH, Munich, Germany). Patients' satisfaction and usage practice were assessed by a questionnaire.

RESULTS: The mean age of subjects was 57.9 years with mean body mass index (BMI) of 26 kg/m2. The mean duration of diagnosis with diabetes mellitus was 10.2 years. The mean peak plantar pressure was found to be highest at the right forefoot and left heel region, 267.6 kPa (SD113.5 kPa) and 266.3 kPa (SD 94.6 kPa) respectively. There was a statistically significant reduction of mean peak pressure (P 

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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