Designing a Wearable Device for Early-Stage Diabetic Foot: Bridging Smart Healthcare with User-Centric Innovation

Diabetic foot is a common complication among patients with diabetes mellitus. Its early symptoms are often overlooked, resulting in many patients being diagnosed and treated only after the condition has progressed to a severe stage. Therefore, early monitoring and intervention are crucial to controlling the course of the disease. With the development of technology, the management of diabetic foot is gradually evolving towards intelligence and personalization, and the application of smart wearable devices and “Internet+Healthcare” provides new solutions. This study focuses on the home care scenarios of patients with early to mid-stage diabetic foot management, and selects middle-aged and elderly people as the research subjects, taking into account the patients’ health management needs and nursing support needs. The study used VOSviewer software to conduct a bibliometric analysis of keyword co-occurrence, followed by a research analysis and prioritization of user needs through rooted theory coding and KANO modeling to distill five dimensions and 15 core needs. Based on the needs, this study designed a diabetic foot early and mid-term monitoring and physical therapy product, and evaluated the design solution through the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) and System Usability Scale (SUS). The validation results show that the solution, which combines biosensing technology, age-appropriate interaction design and intelligent health management platform, is feasible and effective. This study provides theoretical support and practical references for the development of diabetic foot rehabilitation products and is expected to improve patients’ quality of life and treatment outcomes.