There are many reasons that a podiatric physician or any other health care professional may like to offload the feet or part of the foot. Offloading refers to getting the weight off the foot. This can be important when the greater load or pressure is resulting in the foot problem. This might be as simple as a corn or it might be as critical as an ulcer in an individual with type 2 diabetes. Should it be a bone and joint condition that really needs some time where there is no weight on it that will help it recover. One of the big complications with managing foot conditions is that we still have to walk on it so you can get around and carry out our daily activities. If it was, by way of example, a painful elbow, it's much easier to quit using it. This makes the treating of foot disorders more complicated and the need to use various offloading techniques.

There are various different ways to offload the feet. The most widespread and oldest is probably the use of podiatry felt. This is mostly self adhesive and it is cut to contour so it fits round the area of the high strain rather than over it. This way the strain is removed from the spot. Typically, tape is usually useful to help in keeping the felt padding within the right spot. The feet have to be kept dry and when necessary the felt can be swapped out every couple of days. Podiatry felt is also fairly cheap compared to other techniques. The felt is frequently useful for smaller areas that require offloading like a corn, an ulcer or something like a sesamoiditis which is a painful disorder of the little bones beneath the great toe joint.

A different popular method for offloading would be the use of foot supports. A foot orthotic which is made to the contour of the feet, distributes the load out evenly over the whole foot, so is able to reduce the load on an location which has an excessive amount of and spread it to other parts of the foot. In some cases, hollows or divots may be cut in the foot supports to help off load a painful location. The foot orthotic either can be custom-made or of the pre-made sort that may be modified to match the feet more accurately.

In the more severe conditions, the best way to offload a foot that has an ulcer is by using a total contact cast or one of the comparable prefabricated walking splints. If the problem is a bone and joint one, then a moon boot or walking support can be used. These kinds of devices are extremely effective at offloading and so are widely used by podiatric physicians along with other health care professionals who take care of the foot and lower limb problems. They do make walking a little more difficult, but if that can promote the user to walk a smaller amount then this is a good thing. Sometimes that limp that the brace triggers can result in other issues in the hip and back and there can also be a greater chance for falls, so it must be handled diligently.