Balance Enhancement and Ulcer Prevention in Diabetes projects

Project Lead: Justine Tansley

Lower limb wound healing can be prolonged in those with diabetes and is further exacerbated if lower limb oedema is present. These common co-morbidities further increase the risk of individuals experiencing recurrent infection, wound deterioration, pain, immobility and amputation, all of which have a profound impact on quality of life.

This developing project aims to improve the care and experiences of people with diabetic foot ulceration when it occurs in combination with lower limb oedema and other lower limb complications. It will explore the best approaches to manage these conditions including complex interventions and integrated care.

To date the project has been able to identify that barriers to treatment exist at a national scale, where diabetic foot ulcers present in combination with lower limb oedema and its concurrent complications. It has further discovered this is an area of clinical practice and professional development which desperately seeks improvement by those involved in delivering care and people living with these conditions. A scoping review is currently being undertaken to explore “Off-loading and compression therapy interventions and strategies for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers complicated by the effects of lower limb oedema”.

Project Lead: Jennifer Williams

Diabetic foot ulceration is a leading cause of disability, reducing quality of life, shortening life expectancy and is a leg amputation precursor. Measures to prevent ulceration development include risky behaviours avoidance, professional foot-care and self-care behaviours, such as daily foot checks. Despite education the desired self-care behaviours are frequently overlooked as empowering individuals to engage with ulceration reducing activities often requires behaviour change.

This project aims to develop a digital behaviour change intervention, with specific focus on foot health, to help people with diabetes manage their feet effectively, preventing foot ulceration.

An existing behaviour change intervention, the HOPE (help over coming problems effectively) programme will be adapted, with patients and stakeholder input. The intervention will focus specifically on foot problems and engagement with foot care activities. A feasibility trial will begin evaluating the HOPE programme for diabetic foot, with assessment of the intervention acceptability to participants. Additional outcomes will include the design and feasibility of a larger randomised control trial evaluating intervention efficacy.

This project is under development as an NIHR CRDF application, for Jennifer Williams, with the University of Plymouth and Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.

Project Lead: Richard Collings

Foot ulceration is one of the most devastating problems associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. One type of foot ulcer that is found in approximately 50% of cases is those on the underside of the foot and is associated with high plantar pressure areas.

A feasibility RCT with embedded qualitative component tested an optimised insole intervention appropriate for chairside delivery plantar that aims to reduce foot pressure in people with diabetes. Insoles and specialist shoes are often provided to transfer areas of high pressures to other parts of the foot in an attempt to reduce the risk of ulcers. The ‘optimised’ insole design was informed by data collected from high tech in-shoe pressure measurement equipment.

Sixty-one participants were randomised to either the optimised insole group (n=30) or a plain insole group (n=31). Forty-two participants completed the study at 12-months and we found that the differences in pressure reduction favoured the optimised insole group.

The results of the feasibility study suggest that the optimised insole holds promise as an intervention. Therefore, this information will be used to develop a funding application to undertake a large-scale multi-centre trial to evaluate its clinical and cost-effectiveness for people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Project Lead: Dr Joanne Paton

The Foot Risk Awareness and Management Education (FRAME) project was commissioned by the Scottish Government to produce an e-learning resource to enable any Health Care Professional (HPC)/workers to gain knowledge of the theoretical and practical competencies to safely and effectively undertake the task of diabetes foot screening. Building upon this work a second project was commissioned by the SW Clinical Network in England in response to a peer review of diabetic foot services across the South West region that highlighted a need for education in the assessment of the diabetic foot.

The aim of the project was to modify and update the module content to reflect English NICE guidance. The module is intended to provide those working in primary care with an interactive way of learning with the aim of standardising, in an evidence based manner, the way diabetes foot screening is performed throughout England.

On completion of this module the individual may opt to undertake case scenarios, and if completed successfully and passed, will gain a certificate of completion/competence.

The original project was officially launched at The Scottish Diabetes Foot conference in Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh on 6th June 2011.

The English version of FRAME was launched on 1st February 2017 and is updated annually.

The English version of FRAME project was commissioned by the Rachel Leverson (SW Clinical Network). English module content modified by Joanne Paton and reviewed by

• Dr Richard Paisey: Honorary consultant and SW CVD SCN Diabetes Footcare Lead
• Dr Julia Thomas: Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist at Musgrove Park Hospital
• Anita Stuart: Diabetes Specialist Podiatrist at Derriford Hospital Plymouth.
• Alysia Kirby: Specialist Podiatrist- Diabetes at West Cornwall Hospital
• Christiane Pankhurst; Senior Orthotist at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital

Project Lead: Dr Joanne Paton

Research has shown that despite clear benefits of using insoles to prevent foot ulceration in people living with diabetes. People lack motivation to use insoles because they cannot feel injury done to their feet, do not understand the benefits of insoles or know when to wear them.

Previous research studies have focused on improving patients’ knowledge and understanding of their foot care through provision of traditional educational materials, such as leaflets. These have proved only partially successful in increasing adherence to (wearing of) insoles. We believe that the amount, and length of time wearing the insoles can be increased by improving someone’s understanding of why insoles are needed in the self-management of their feet. Using a systematic process, we developed a new treatment regime to support people living with diabetes to wear their insoles more. It has four components to motivate and encourage people to take ownership of how to best to use their insoles day-to-day to prevent foot ulcers:

• Assessment of foot ulcer risk and insole benefit
• Personalised health coaching to increase motivation
• Fitting insoles into the shoes or slippers worn most often
• Follow up to reinforce learning and instruct people how to check insoles for wear and tear and get replacements

Project Lead: Dr Joanne Paton

This project successfully developed a feasible system to automatically create a bespoke insole for people at risk from diabetic foot ulceration, a serious problem affecting 61,000 people at any one time.

It achieved this through a combination of 3D scanner (CADSCAN Ltd), 3D printer (Gyrobot and Recreus) and algorithms (Staffordshire University) to automatically design the insoles to meet stakeholder specifications (Plymouth University). The resulting insoles are cheap to manufacture and can be printed at the point of care within hours. Pre-clinical evaluation undertaken by the research team at Plymouth found that the new 3D printed insole was more effective at reducing plantar loads under the forefoot when compared to the standard insole condition, reducing mean peak pressure by 31% compared to a 27% reduction when a standard custom insole was worn. Early evaluation of the next generation of 3D printed insoles suggested that there is potential to further optimise the design and performance of the 3D printed insole, with initial tests demonstrating a reduction of forefoot peak pressure of 38%.

Project Lead: Vasileios Lepesis

Limited joint mobility syndrome (LJMS) is the most common musculoskeletal complication in diabetes which is caused by glycosylation of connective tissue collagen. Reduced ankle and metatarsophalangeal (MTP) range of motion (ROM) seen in LJMS leads to increased elevated forefoot plantar pressure while walking, a known risk factor for ulceration.

A proof-of-concept assessor blinded randomised controlled trial with an embedded qualitative element assessing whether ankle and first MTP joint mobilisations and home program of stretches in people with DPN improve joint ROM and reduce forefoot peak plantar pressures.

Sixty-one participants were randomised to either mobilisations and stretches group (n=31) or diabetic usual care (n=30). Outcome measures were taken at baseline; post intervention and 3- months following intervention onset. Dynamic ankle ROM and plantar pressure measurements did not differ between groups but static ROM measurements in the ankle and big toe significantly increased in the intervention group. Participants interviewed found the intervention acceptable and showed high adhesion rates (80%).

Changes in the primary outcome, dorsiflexion range while walking was not observed. This may reflect an inclusion based on limited joint mobility identified through clinical tests and the method of defining ankle range with 3D motion analysis. This suggests that further work in more targeted patient populations is warranted.