What do Podiatrists do? You’d be surprised!

April 24, 2019

If you have never visited a Podiatrist before, you may wonder what it is we actually do.

Something to do with kids? Nope. That’s a paediatrician.

Something to do with the feet? Getting close…

We’re actually experts in lower limb health. That means your feet, ankles, legs, knees and hips. And not just in the older adult! We treat kids, athletes, mums, dads, grandparents and those just taking their first steps. And we absolutely love it!

There are two types of appointments we offer

The first is a biomechanical appointment. This means you’ve injured yourself, hurt a muscle or a bone, sustained pain during running, had spontaneous foot pain with no identifiable cause, noticed your child’s feet turning in, are experiencing growing pains, have super flat feet that aren’t as comfortable as they used to be… and so on. These are musculoskeletal appointments that involve performing a comprehensive biomechanical assessment as part of the diagnostic and treatment process.

The second is a general podiatry care appointment. And exactly what happens during this appointment and how we help you is exactly what we’ll be focusing on today!

What does a general podiatry care appointment help with?

The number of things we can check and help with is quite extensive:

Alleviating pain from ingrown toenails conservatively
Performing ingrown toenail surgery for permanent correction
Treating fungal nail infections
Treating athletes foot (fungal skin infections)
Removing corns (hard corns, soft corns and seed corns) using a scalpel
Treating plantar warts
Assessing and dressing wounds
Managing ulcers
Removing callus from your feet
Debriding cracked heels to a soft, smooth heel surface
Providing advice to help manage foot odour
Diagnosing infections (and treating where possible or referring out)
Referring for ultrasound or x-ray where you are having unexplained symptoms
Assessing the sensation in your feet, checking for neuropathy
Assessing the blood flow to the feet
Helping you manage the effects of diabetes on your feet
Advising on and helping you manage gout
Advising on and helping you manage both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis
Diagnosis and advice for chilblains
Helping prevent and manage blisters
Maintaining optimal foot health by addressing skin maceration and breakdown between the toes
Reducing the thickness of your toenails where they have grown thick and large
Trimming your toenails
And the list goes on…

And you do all of these things in the one appointment??

When you come in for a general podiatry care appointment, there’s almost always a reason – or many reasons. Whether it’s as simple as you can no longer reach your hard, thick toenails to cut them, or you’ve been hobbling around in pain because there’s a lump on the bottom of your foot (could be a wart, corn or something else), we make sure that we address your main concerns and the reasons you’ve come to see us.

While we’re treating your feet, we’re closely examining them and checking for anything out of the ordinary. That’s why we often ask you if you’ve been moisturising your heels (because did you know they are dry and cracked?) or if you dry your feet well after showering (because you have athletes foot and there the skin between your toes is macerated) – and then we provide either advice or treatment for this, depending on what you need and what our appointment time allows. Where needed and time has run out, we’ll recommend that you come back for a subsequent appointment, or even regularly (every 8 weeks or so) so we can help keep your feet under control and maintain their health (and your mobility) for as long as possible.

And you really know about all of these different things?

We sure do. Don’t forget, we see feet and legs all day, every day. Some of us have been doing this for decades. We know exactly what is normal – and what isn’t. We’ve studied for either three or four years – and we studied only the lower limbs. We undergo annual professional development to learn new advances in technology and podiatric medicine. So yes, we’ve got you covered. And if we’re ever unsure, we’ll confirm your diagnosis with medical imaging – so there’s no guesswork.

And what about orthotics?

Absolutely, prescribing custom orthotics is one of our specialities. But because we use orthotics to alter the alignment and biomechanical function of the feet, this is often a treatment for biomechanical issues.

That being said – we can definitely use orthotics to offload painful areas where you have persistent warts or other issues, or the fat pads on the bottom of your feet have thinned (usually either due to taking certain medications or with increasing age) and you want to feel comfortable when you walk again.

So how do I book an appointment?

That’s the easy part! Just give us a call on (03) 972 2927, or book online here.