Preliminary Study for Developed Foot Plantar Surface Temperature Monitoring System by Reducing Pressure Effect

The diabetic foot is one of the major complications in diabetic patients. Many studies revealed that monitoring temperature differences of the corresponding points on the foot plantar surface is important to prevent the foot ulceration. However, even though there are many wearable devices developed for monitoring plantar surface temperature, no studies have investigated how the person’s pressure can effect on the temperature sensors while monitoring the plantar temperature when the people stand on the insole. This pressure effect can change the monitoring result which will produce the wrong diagnosis. In this study, we propose two methods; each is corresponding to estimate the standing habit of the person, and to correct the monitoring result which is affected by the pressure. Although it cannot correct the error in certain situation and it is limited to steady state, these two methods were able to correct the error caused by the pressure on the sensor.