There are a lot of reasons that a podiatrist or other health care worker might choose to offload the foot or part of the foot. Offloading means having the load off the foot. This is often necessary in the event the greater load or stress is leading to the foot problem. This might be as elementary as a corn or it could be as significant as an ulcer in a person with type 2 diabetes. It could be a orthopedic condition that has to have a period of time in which there is no stress on it that will help it recover. The big troubles with managing foot conditions is that we still will need to walk on the feet in order to get about and perform our daily activities. If it was, by way of example, a painful elbow, it's much easier to stop making use of it. This will make the treating of foot disorders more complicated and the need to use various offloading approaches.
There are numerous different ways to offload the feet. The most common and most well-known is probably the use of podiatry felt. This is largely self adhesive and it is cut to shape so it fits round the part of the high force rather than over it. Because of this the pressure is taken away from the area. Generally, adhesive tape is usually helpful to help keep the padding in the right place. The feet needs to be kept dry and when needed the felt can be replaced every few days. Podiatry felt is likewise comparatively inexpensive in comparison with other strategies. The felt is normally useful for smaller places which need offloading like a corn, an ulcer or something like a sesamoiditis which is a painful disorder with the small bones under the big toe or hallux joint.
An additional frequent way of offloading would be the use of foot orthotics. A foot orthotic that is created to the contour of the feet, distributes the weight away equally on the whole foot, therefore can aid in reducing the strain upon an area which has an excessive amount of and distribute it to other regions of the feet. In some instances, hollows or holes may be cut in the foot orthotic to help off load a painful area. The foot supports either can be made to order or of the pre-made sort that could be adjusted to suit the feet more accurately.
With the far more severe instances, the best way to offload a foot which has a diabetic ulcer is to use a total contact cast or one of the equivalent mass produced walking boots. If the issue is a bone and joint one, then a moon boot or walking brace works extremely well. These types of devices are extremely effective at offloading and are frequently used by podiatric doctors and other health professionals that deal with the foot and lower limb disorders. They do make walking somewhat more problematic, but if that can encourage the user to walk less then that's a good thing. From time to time that limp that the splint triggers may bring about other issues in the hip and lower back and there can also be a greater risk for falls, so it will have to be managed carefully.