Diabetic Foot Symptoms

Diabetes can cause nerve damage, which sometimes results in numbness, tingling, or pain in a person's extremities, or more significant problems. These symptoms are called neuropathies, of which there are three types: peripheral, proximal, and focal. These nerve disorders usually take many years to develop, and peripheral is the most common.

Early Symptoms

• People with diabetic neuropathy usually first notice unusual foot sensations, often a numb or prickly feeling. These sensations tend to be minor, and the person may hardly notice them for a long time.

Progressive Symptoms

• As this peripheral neuropathy progresses, a person's feet as well as hands may become extremely sensitive to touch, and there may be sensations of burning, cramping, and piercing or throbbing pains.

Warning

• People with foot numbness can easily develop blisters and other sores, since they are not aware of abnormal friction. Diabetics must monitor their feet for these problems, because infections can result if the sores are not treated quickly.

Considerations

• Peripheral neuropathy can cause a condition called hammertoes, a deformity where the toes become rigidly bent at the middle joint.

Additional Symptoms

• Proximal neuropathy does not cause foot symptoms, but rather pain higher up on the legs. Focal neuropathy causes sudden muscle weakness or pain anywhere in the body, usually in the lower back or pelvis, thighs, shins, or feet.