The decision is whether a yearly foot exam belongs in a diabetic care routine. The claim attached to it is that the exam helps avoid or delay complications. This article tests that claim for readers in Schaumburg who are being asked to book the visit.
What the exam is said to deliver
The CDC puts the claim this way: "Complications can be avoided or delayed with yearly comprehensive foot exams and treatment." The wording is careful. "Avoided or delayed" is a weaker promise than "prevented", and the sentence credits exams and treatment together, not exams alone.
What a yearly exam covers, and how often
The CDC also lists the content: "Annual foot exams assess pulses, sensation, foot structure and function, and nails." The time frame is one visit a year, so the cost is a single appointment and not an ongoing program.
The exam sits in a larger clinical picture. The Standards of Care in Diabetes—2025 chapter on retinopathy, neuropathy, and foot care groups foot care with eye and nerve care in one chapter.
The fine print behind the headline
The CDC sentence pairs exams with treatment, so the benefit it describes depends on acting on what the exam finds. An exam that is booked and then not followed up delivers less than the sentence promises.
Compared with doing nothing extra
Compared with skipping the exam, the visit adds a defined list of things that get checked: pulses, sensation, foot structure and function, and nails.
Sensation is one item on that list. A comparison of the accuracy of monofilament testing at various points of the feet in peripheral diabetic neuropathy screening on PMC examines one way of testing it.
Verdict
The yearly exam is worth the visit within the limits of the claim. The CDC promises that complications can be avoided or delayed, which is modest, and the cost is one appointment a year. Treat it as a check that needs follow-through, and not as a cure.