Protective Sensation

If you have diabetes you probably have been tested for your protective sensation. Protective sensation gives you a pain threshold and tells you how much pressure you can take before you feel pain. A loss of protective sensation hinders a person from feeling anything. This can become a problem because if a patient with a severe loss of sensation sustains an injury, he or she may not recognize any inciting trauma.

Protective sensation is a result of neuropathy, which is damage to the peripheral nerves usually in the hands and feet. This type of sensory deficit is common in people with diabetes and can be tested by medical professionals. Medical professionals use various graded monofilaments to see how much protective sensation is gone. If a 100-gram monofilament is not felt by that patient, it can be a serious problem.

To test for protective sensation, doctors can use Baseline® Retracting Monofilaments. These portable monofilaments can detect changes in neurological status. They come in 3 sensory evaluator options: 1, 10 and 100 grams. Each filament becoming stronger and less flexible as you go up. These nylon monofilaments are damage resistant when retracted into their case, making it ideal for repeated use for screening peripheral nerve impairment. With a range of three differently graded monofilaments, doctors can accurately test the loss of protective sensation.

For more information on monofilaments and protective sensation, click here.

To check out our Baseline® Retracting Monofilaments, click here.

Article written by William Graves.