Birgitta Rice continues to help diabetes patients with her research and work on a relaxation therapy that began during her days at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Rice, now with the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, has standardized a therapy that is proven to relieve leg pain and improve healing of chronic foot ulcers in patients with diabetes or peripheral arterial disease.
The training protocol was published in the May/June issue of the Diabetes Educator.

The relaxation therapy, WarmFeet Intervention, allows peripheral blood vessels to widen, improving circulation to tissues and nerves. In a clinical study, 87 percent of those with chronic foot ulcers healed completely within three months. Most started to see results within two weeks.

Rice said improvements in pain relief, nerve function, movement and coping skills were noticed by participants.

“Not only is this a tool for enhanced pain relief and healing for patients who suffer from diabetes or peripheral arterial disease, but it is also a tool for self-empowerment and motivation,” Rice said.

“As a supplement to traditional medical care, patients can now contribute to their own health,” she said.

Back in September 1992, I wrote about Rice’s work. The La Crosse woman found that relaxation techniques increase the blood flow in the feet of diabetics during research for her master’s thesis at UW-L. Her research was published in Diabetes Care, a national medical journal about clinical diabetes.

Since then, the therapy has been developed by Rice and former colleagues at UW-Madison. Using assisted thermal biofeedback, patients can determine whether they are relaxing correctly by seeing an increased temperature in their limbs. The relaxed blood vessels allow additional blood flow to the periphery, thus warming them.

Rice said she wanted to reduced the number of complications suffered by diabetes patients. It is quite common for people with diabetes to have restricted blood flow in the legs and feet after a time, which can lead to infected sores and degenerating tissues, Rice said.

In severe cases, amputation may be needed, she said.

Rice, who was a pharmacist in Sweden before coming to the United States in 1964, conducted diabetes research at the U of M, and then stayed home to raise two children. She went back to college at the age of 48 to work on her master’s degree in health education at UW-L.

With her research, Rice is helping people like herself. Rice was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes at the age of 19.

Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8227.

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