Diabetic foot disease is one of the most common and costly complications of diabetes and the most common cause of non-traumatic amputations. In the UK alone up to 135 people/week have a limb amputated because of diabetes, and it is estimated that by 2025 more than 75 Million people will be needing specialist foot care because of diabetes.
Some of our current projects in this area include:
- STANDUP – Smartphone Thermal ANalysis for Diabetic Foot Ulcer Prevention and treatment, Funded by the European Commission under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (Horizon 2020 – MSCA-RISE-2017, Grant Agreement Number 777661). Jan 2018 – Dec 2021.
- Ultrasound based assessment of tissue biomechanics to enhance the clinical management of foot related pathologies, Funded by UK-India Education and Research Initiative, (April 2017- March 2020).
Current activities within the Biomechanics facility include:
- Protocol development for human movement research. These protocols are intended to be used to underpin product development and evaluation, e.g. footwear research and Clinical Gait Analysis
- Protocol development for clinical assessment of connective tissue
- Patient specific finite element modelling of the human foot
- Therapeutic/diabetic Footwear (footwear modifications/ orthotic intervention)
- Sports Biomechanics – related research (Rehabilitation, Sports equipment)
- Medical and Assistive Technology
- Biomechanical Assessment of the Diabetic foot and footwear
- Insole material testing, product design and development
- Falls assessment and identifying predictors for falls.
- Methods to reliably map the user needs in elderly and disabled population.
- Perfusion measurement