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The NZ Herald are reporting: Smart shoe-insole step in the right direction
Quote:
Hundreds of diabetics a year could be spared the amputation of a foot if a smart shoe-insole being developed by a local company proves effective.
People with advanced diabetes are at risk of their extremities going numb from nerve damage and have to take great care to ensure they have correctly-fitting shoes. The numbness means foot sores or injuries may go unnoticed, becoming ulcerated or infected, leading to amputation.
The new device, being developed by Auckland-based Zephyr Technologies, working with AUT University and a leading American podiatry college, is an insole containing sensors to measure temperature and pressure on the foot.
It is connected to an electronic device clipped to the side of a shoe which transmits the data to a cellphone. Using special software, the cellphone can sound an alarm to tell of a potential ulcer.
"It helps monitor the person and recommends what they should do," Zephyr chief executive Brian Russell said last night. "That would mainly be to take the weight off their feet for a certain amount of time. We expect that to stop most ulcers occurring."
The company expects about 85 per cent of the amputations performed on diabetics could be prevented by use of the device.
Diabetic ShoePod is a development of the company's pressure-measuring insoles and smart-fabric "bio-harness" that gather data on the likes of heart beat, breathing rate and temperature. Both are used by elite athletes and researchers.
Zephyr expects to start selling the devices by October next year. The price was as yet unknown but would probably be "in the hundreds of dollars".
Re: "Smart" insole to detect pressure and temperature
Quote:
The company expects about 85 per cent of the amputations performed on diabetics could be prevented by use of the device.
Where did that come from How many times have we heard of products going to do that before?
What sort of diabetic foot complications are these insoles going to potentially help with? ... the plantar neuropatic ulcers.
How many plantar neuropathic ulcers go on to amputation? ... not many
What is the initiating event in most diabetic foot complications that lead to most amputations? ... single event trauma
How can these insoles detect single event trauma? ... they can't
How can these insole prevent 85% of amputations? ... they can't.
__________________
Craig Payne
Department of Podiatry
La Trobe University
Melbourne, Australia http://www.latrobe.edu.au/podiatry
__________________________________________________ ___________________________________ God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things - right now I am so far behind, I will never die.
The views expressed above are those of the author and not that of La Trobe University This is where I am, where are you?
Re: "Smart" insole to detect pressure and temperature
I recall talking to an exasperated manufacturer of the padded socks for diabetics. He could not understand why the government would not give him a massive subsidy to provide the socks as his product was going to massively decrease the amputation rate.
Re: "Smart" insole to detect pressure and temperature
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaVinci
I recall talking to an exasperated manufacturer of the padded socks for diabetics. He could not understand why the government would not give him a massive subsidy to provide the socks as his product was going to massively decrease the amputation rate.
I think I have had the exact same conversation with the same person :)
I did not mean to imply that the smart insole technology would not be useful, its just the claim re a reduction in the amputation rate.
__________________
Craig Payne
Department of Podiatry
La Trobe University
Melbourne, Australia http://www.latrobe.edu.au/podiatry
__________________________________________________ ___________________________________ God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things - right now I am so far behind, I will never die.
The views expressed above are those of the author and not that of La Trobe University This is where I am, where are you?
Re: "Smart" insole to detect pressure and temperature
More from Printed Electronics World: Hi Tech Insoles Could Prevent 76,000 Amputations per Year in the US
Quote:
New Zealand based company Zephyr Technology is working with scientists at AUT University in Auckland to create high tech insoles for shoes, using sensor technology to measure foot temperatures to sense the onset of potential ulceration conditions in diabetics, potentially reducing a major health problem that results in 90,000 amputations each year in the United States.
The ShoePod Diabetic is a thin Smart Fabric shoe insole which measures temperatures, coupled with a wireless data transmitter and recorder. Graphical diagnostic tools enable accurate comparative analysis, providing early warning of foot ulceration due to DPN (Diabetic peripheral neuropathy) using Bluetooth-type protocol that would allow communication to a Mobile or other such device. It is the first diagnostic product able to be used without restricting the wearer's everyday activity.
Zephyr Technology Director for Business Development, Steven Small told IDTechEx, that diabetics can develop a condition called DPN which is when the nerves are damaged. As DPN causes lost feeling in the extremities, the afflicted cannot detect the onset of ulceration. ShoePod Diabetic will provide early warning of the conditions leading to ulceration and potential amputation by sensing both plantar pressures and temperature "hot spots."
By providing continuous monitoring, ShoePod acts as a replacement for the damaged nerve endings of the diabetic patient. Upon detection of conditions potentially leading to ulceration, ShoePod alerts the wearer through audible and/ or visible signals. These alerts encourage the patient to take action that would prevent further damage.
"We are developing a product that could alert the patient before the ulceration occurs by using real time temperature sensors, not currently available"
Small continued, "The Inner sole for the shoes is at prototype stage with trials scheduled for the end of October. Some challenges need working through to get through the FDA approval process but because this is just an early warning device which has a classification 1, approval should take less than 6 months".
Chris Hardaker, the Product Manager heading up the commercial effort to get the product to market at Zephyr said "I don't see any significant hurdles other than the paper trail to finalise the process".
"The sensor is currently mounted on a flexible PCB as we couldn't find anybody that could offer printed temperature sensors that could deliver life expectancy needed at the comfort level and accuracy required. We are still looking as final design stage is about 3 months away," added Hardaker.
Up to 70 percent of all non-traumatic lower extremity amputations (LEAs) in the U.S. each year are from complications due to diabetes. Furthermore, approximately 85 percent of the 90,000 diabetes-related LEAs per year in the U.S. could be prevented with early detection.
Diabetes presents a serious financial burden for the healthcare system, as the disease carries direct costs of $92 billion dollars per year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Foot conditions due to DPN have direct costs of approximately $11 billion, which does not include lost work hours, decreased productivity, and deterioration of the quality of life for the amputee.
An acknowledged world authority on the diabetic foot, Dr David Armstrong, Professor of Surgery and Associate Dean of the College and his colleagues are working with Zephyr to develop and promote the technology. They will also be actively involved in the trials being held in the US later this year.
"Smart" insole to detect pressure and temperature
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