More often than not, you hear stories about diabetics who have had to amputate their legs. Why is this? This is because of blood circulation in diabetics in which the lower limbs don’t get as much blood, which in turn makes the limbs colder than the rest of the body, and can sometimes lead to ulceration.
When left unchecked, it could result in diabetics having to amputate their limbs, which is unfortunate. However over in Jackson State University, a group of students have come up with an idea: a smart mat which when stepped on, detects temperatures on both feet and sends the information to an accompanying smartphone app.
According to one of the students, Jann Butler, whose aunt had lost a foot due to developing foot ulcers, “If there’s a four-degree difference between the two [feet] over a period of time, the lower one would be at greater risk of ulceration.” While this won’t prevent the ulcers, what it does is that it will let the patient detect signs early so that they can be on the lookout and have it treated before it gets out of hand.
The mat costs $500 to develop and right now the students are working on refining it further and to develop the app for other platforms. No word on when it will make it to the market, but it sounds like a great idea for diabetics out there.