Everything You Need to Know About Diabetic Compression Socks
Diabetes is a medical condition that encompasses your entire body. In addition to causing elevated blood sugars, it can also affect your extremities. For this reason, many diabetics wear compression socks.
Compression socks are proven to help alleviate some of the peripheral symptoms of diabetes.
Keep reading to learn how incorporating compression socks into your daily routine can help with diabetes.
What is Diabetes?
Before we can get into how compression socks help, it’s important to know what diabetes is first. Diabetes is a medical condition where a person’s blood sugar, also known as glucose, is too high. Glucose is what gives the cells in your body energy through the help of a hormone known as insulin.
However, diabetes isn’t a singular disease. There are actually multiple forms of diabetes; type-1, type-2 and gestational.
- Type-1 diabetes is when a person’s pancreas doesn’t produce a sufficient amount of insulin. It occurs most often in children and adolescents.
- Type-2 diabetes occurs more often in adults and is the most common type of diabetes. This type is indicated by a person’s body being unable to make good use of insulin.
- Gestational diabetes (GDM) is similar to type-2 diabetes, except it occurs in pregnant women. It is indicated by high blood glucose, which can affect the health of both the mother and the developing fetus. Fortunately, it usually goes away after delivery, but type-2 diabetes may develop for the mother and/or child later in life.
What Are Compression Socks and Who Primarily Wears Them?
Compression socks aren’t what the name suggests. They are actually very comfortable stockings that are designed to fit around your ankles. Compression socks are made of a special elastic-like material that apply more pressure to your muscles and ligaments in your lower legs. People who suffer from leg and ankle pain include athletes, pregnant women and, of course, diabetics.
People with diabetes may also suffer from diabetic neuropathy—a type of nerve damage that occurs when blood sugar levels remain too high for an extended period and cause the nerves inside blood vessels to shrivel. This condition can cause lower leg edema, in addition to tingling, numbness, and pain.
How Compression Socks Can Help
You may be curious as to how adding pressure helps with diabetic neuropathy. While they can’t help with the root cause of glucose and insulin issues, they can alleviate the pain and discomfort diabetics may experience. In addition, compression socks do more than simply alleviate foot, leg, and ankle pain.
The main reason why compression socks are recommended is because of their ability to improve blood flow. Circulation problems are one of the most bothersome symptoms for people with diabetes. Furthermore, these specially designed socks also help treat swelling, another red flag of venous insufficiency.
Over time, poor blood circulation can lead to deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which are blood clots in the leg. When left untreated, a blood clot can travel to the lungs, heart, or brain.
Another problem with having poor circulation is peripheral edema. Peripheral edema is a serious medical condition where fluid accumulates due to swelling in the leg area. Compression socks can significantly reduce the risk of developing this problem.
Diabetes, even when under good control, can cause other medical issues. And while diabetes isn't always curable, there are things you can do to ease the systemic symptoms. In addition to monitoring your blood sugar levels and taking prescribed diabetic medication like insulin injections, using VIM & VIGR graduated compression socks can also improve lower limb circulation. If you have diabetes and think you're suffering from peripheral edema and neuropathy, our compression stockings could provide the relief you need. Browse our wide selection of diabetes socks in different compression levels, from 15-20 mmHG to medical grade 20-30 mmHG.
