The trial will seek to determine the relationship between ankle range of motion and pressures under the foot in people with diabetes.

Associate Professor Vivienne Chuter, Dr Martin Spink and Angela Searle are now recruiting for the trial.

“Diabetes is the fastest growing chronic condition in Australia,” Ms Searle said. 

More than 1.2 million Australians have been diagnosed with diabetes and another 280 people develop diabetes every day.

“Here on the Central Coast the rate of adult diabetes in the Gosford area matches the national average at 4.7 per cent, while the rate in the Wyong area is higher at 5.7 per cent,” Ms Searle said.

Foot ulcers are a complication of diabetes which reduce mobility and quality of life, and are the most important risk factor for lower leg and foot amputation.

“High pressures under the foot contribute to foot ulcer risk and have been linked to reduced flexibility of the ankle in people with diabetes,” she said.

“Calf muscle stretching may be a simple method of increasing ankle flexibility which may lower pressures under the foot and so reduce the chance of a foot ulcer occurring in people with diabetes.”

Volunteers will be asked to attend the University of Newcastle Podiatry Clinic at Wyong Hospital for about an hour. Researchers will assess them for foot ulcer risk factors by measuring their foot pressures, ankle flexibility, and foot sensation.

Those people with reduced ankle flexibility will be invited to take part in an eight-week stretching trial to try to improve ankle range of motion and potentially reduce pressure under the foot.

At the end of the trial a colour report detailing participants’ barefoot and in-shoe foot pressure can be mailed to their GP or podiatrist.