The development of foot ulcers is a common consequence of severe diabetes. Due to vascular disorders and impeded healing caused by the disease, most foot ulcers have been reported to be affected by body weight and progress with time. Also, abnormal distribution of plantar pressures has been observed to cause the formation of additional ulcers, which may collectively lead to traumatic amputations. While a study of such pathophysiology is not possible through experiments, a few computational modelling works have investigated diabetic foot ulcers. To date, ulcers with a few sizes and locations have been studied, and their effect on the plantar stresses has been quantified. In this work, we have attempted to study the effect of all possible ulcer locations on the generated plantar peak stresses and peak stress locations where additional ulcers may form. Also, the effect of ulcer location on the possible ulcer growth was investigated. A full-scale foot model was developed and a total of 52 ulcer locations were simulated separately, with standing and walking loads. The generated stresses were normalised with the foot size and statistically analysed to develop novel formulations for predicting peak plantar stresses and their locations for any known ulcer location. The results from this study are anticipated to provide important guidelines to doctors and medical practitioners for predicting foot ulcer progression in diabetic patients with existing ulcers and allow the administration of timely preventive interventions.

足部溃疡的发展是严重糖尿病的常见后果。由于该疾病引起的血管疾病和愈合障碍，据报道大多数足部溃疡受体重影响并随着时间的推移而进展。此外，已观察到足底压力的异常分布会导致形成额外的溃疡，这可能共同导致创伤性截肢。虽然无法通过实验对这种病理生理学进行研究，但一些计算建模工作已经研究了糖尿病足溃疡。迄今为止，已经研究了具有几种大小和位置的溃疡，并且已经量化了它们对足底压力的影响。在这项工作中，我们试图研究所有可能的溃疡位置对产生的足底峰值应力和可能形成额外溃疡的峰值应力位置的影响。此外，还研究了溃疡位置对可能的溃疡生长的影响。开发了一个全尺寸足部模型，分别模拟了总共 52 个溃疡位置，包括站立和行走负荷。产生的应力根据足部尺寸进行归一化并进行统计分析，以开发用于预测峰值足底应力及其任何已知溃疡位置的新配方。预计这项研究的结果将为医生和医疗从业人员提供重要的指导，以预测患有溃疡的糖尿病患者的足部溃疡进展，并允许及时进行预防性干预。研究了溃疡位置对可能的溃疡生长的影响。开发了一个全尺寸足部模型，分别模拟了总共 52 个溃疡位置，包括站立和行走负荷。产生的应力根据足部尺寸进行归一化并进行统计分析，以开发用于预测峰值足底应力及其任何已知溃疡位置的新配方。预计这项研究的结果将为医生和医疗从业人员提供重要的指导，以预测患有溃疡的糖尿病患者的足部溃疡进展，并允许及时进行预防性干预。研究了溃疡位置对可能的溃疡生长的影响。开发了一个全尺寸足部模型，分别模拟了总共 52 个溃疡位置，包括站立和行走负荷。产生的应力根据足部尺寸进行归一化并进行统计分析，以开发用于预测峰值足底应力及其任何已知溃疡位置的新配方。预计这项研究的结果将为医生和医疗从业人员提供重要的指导，以预测患有溃疡的糖尿病患者的足部溃疡进展，并允许及时进行预防性干预。站立和行走负载。产生的应力根据足部尺寸进行归一化并进行统计分析，以开发用于预测峰值足底应力及其任何已知溃疡位置的新配方。预计这项研究的结果将为医生和医疗从业人员提供重要的指导，以预测患有溃疡的糖尿病患者的足部溃疡进展，并允许及时进行预防性干预。站立和行走负载。产生的应力根据足部尺寸进行归一化并进行统计分析，以开发用于预测峰值足底应力及其任何已知溃疡位置的新配方。预计这项研究的结果将为医生和医疗从业人员提供重要的指导，以预测患有溃疡的糖尿病患者的足部溃疡进展，并允许及时进行预防性干预。