Plantar Pressure Measurements at Unipedal and Bipedal Stance of Diabetic Foot Patients

Diabetes is associated with complications such as ulcers and amputations. 38% of ulcers develop at plantar locations where pressure is high. DIAPODAL aims to acquire plantar pressure measurements to alert of possible lesions during gait. A convenience group of 16 volunteers was selected at a Podiatry Unit (40.2 years, SD ± 12.7; weight 71.7 kg, SD ± 14.5 and shoe size 38.6, SD ± 1.9). The time series of 9 plantar pressure sensors were recorded (Python script) in bipedal and unipedal stance for 15 s. Two participants were selected, one with previous foot lesion and the other with healthy feet. During standing, both participants’ point pressures ranged between 10 kPa and 400 kPa. Nonetheless, in single-foot stances, pressure was 5 to 400 kPa (left) - 50 to 500 kPa (right) for the person with a previous lesion and from 5 to 500 kPa (left) - 20 to 550 kPa (right) for the healthy subject. Normalized by patient weight, pressure distribution shows four points of greatest pressure which are hallux, base of the second toe, between the third and fourth toe and at the base of the fourth toe. Overall, the sensors record normalized pressures with distributions that range from 0.1 (SD = 0.1) to 3 (SD = 1.5) kPa/kg. Our results are the first clinical feedback in the development of the wearable device DIAPODAL.