The Diabetic Footwear Revolution

在英国，糖尿病是一个日益严重的健康问题，目前有超过500万人患有糖尿病。糖尿病的一个问题是，它会对脚部的神经和血管造成损害，使它们更容易受伤和感染。糖尿病患者常见的足部问题包括难以愈合的足部开放性溃疡（溃疡），这可能对患者、其家人和更广泛的社会产生重大影响。专门为糖尿病患者设计的鞋子可以帮助预防溃疡等足部问题。然而，这些药物价格昂贵，制作时间长，而且患者通常不喜欢它们。这种耐心的不满有很多原因，其中之一是缺乏款式选择——鞋子的设计只是为了功能，而不是时尚。有些人还发现很难适应规定的鞋子。这个项目将设计和测试一种新的、不同的方式，为糖尿病患者定制鞋子，这可能会减少溃疡问题，并为患者提供一个更好看的鞋子，他们觉得穿起来更舒服。从长远来看，这可以改善他们的糖尿病管理，因此也减少了NHS的开支。作为这项工作的一部分，我们希望与患者交谈，了解他们认为目前鞋类的问题是什么，并与医生交谈，看看他们认为应该如何改进。然后Fyous（从事这项工作的公司）将使用其技术（称为“多态造型”）来制作更适合糖尿病患者需要的鞋子。Fyous正在与另一家已经为NHS提供服务的公司合作，可以帮助我们快速接触到患者。我们将把Fyous的“多态成型”技术与他们的鞋子结合起来，然后在患者身上测试新产品，并收集他们如何使用它们的反馈。一旦Fyous技术被用于制造新鞋，我们将探索如何将该技术的优势扩展到其他医疗产品和其他行业。我们将研究和开发其他潜在应用的示范产品。Fyous的核心“多态成型”技术允许定制产品以适应人们身体部位的不同性质，同时也减少了其他制造技术（如3D打印）的浪费和对环境的影响。然后，我们希望开发这项技术，使其可以从我们的工厂车间转移到其他公司可以使用的机器（类似于3D打印机）。通过向客户提供多态成型机，我们将能够更快地让更多的公司使用这项技术，最终患者将更快地受益。

Diabetes is a growing healthcare problem in the UK - over 5 million people now have it. One of the problems with diabetes is that it can cause damage to the nerves and blood vessels in the feet, making them more vulnerable to injury and infection. A common foot problem in people with diabetes includes open sores (ulcers) on the foot that can be difficult to heal, this can have a large impact on patients, their families and wider society. Specifically designed shoes can be prescribed to people with diabetes which are made to help prevent foot problems like ulcers. However, these are expensive, take a long time to make and patients often don't like them. This patient dissatisfaction comes from a number of reasons, one being the lack of style options -- the shoes are designed only for function, not fashion. Some people also just find it difficult to adjust to prescribed footwear.This project will design and test a new and different way of making custom-made shoes for people with diabetes that may reduce the ulcer problem and provide patients with a better looking shoe which they feel more comfortable to wear. In the long term this can improve their diabetes management and so also cost the NHS less money. As part of this work, we want to talk to patients to find out what they think the problems with current footwear are and to the doctors to see how they think it should be improved. Fyous (the company doing the work) will then use its technology (called "polymorphic moulding") to make footwear that better suits the needs of people with diabetes.Fyous is working with another Company which already supplies the NHS and can help us access patients quickly. We are going to combine the Fyous "polymorphic moulding" technology with their shoes and then test the new product with patients and gather feedback on how they use them.Once the Fyous technology has been used to create the new shoes, we will explore how the benefits of the technology can be expanded to other medical products and other industries. We will research and develop demonstration products for other potential applications. Fyous' core "polymorphic moulding" technology allows custom-made products to be made to suit the different nature of people's body parts, and also to reduce the waste and environmental impact of other manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing. We then want to develop the technology so that it can be taken away from our factory floor and into a machine (similar to a 3D printer) which can be used by other companies. By making the polymorphic moulding machines themselves available to customers we will be able to get the technology used by more companies much more quickly and ultimately patients will benefit faster.