Plantar anatomical masking improvement to gain effectiveness in diabetic foot pressure investigation

In patients with Diabetes, the accurate identification of plantar regions with abnormal loading is a crucial issue in the plantar ulcer prevention program[1,2]. We designed a peculiar mask to complement the validated anatomical mask based on the Oxford Foot Model (OFM) with a more specific forefoot regionalisation. This study validated and assessed the new mask on a sample of diabetic and healthy feet. Preliminary results showed that the new mask has at least the same reliability as footprint-based masks, with a potentiality to better discriminate lateral forefoot loading.