What is a Chiropodist and Podiatrist?
A Chiropodist or Podiatrist is a person devoted to the study and medical treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle and lower extremities. They specialize in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of disorders affecting the foot and lower limbs.
The titles “podiatrist” and “chiropodist” are interchangeable, with the term “podiatrist” becoming more favoured within the profession. However, a member of the profession they may not call themselves a “podiatrist” or “chiropodist” until they register with the Health Professions Council (HPC) as these are protected titles under UK law. This means that they have to meet and maintain standards of care.
Generally, Chiropodists and Podiatrists treat through non-invasive procedures however minor surgical procedures such as nail surgery using local anaesthetics are also performed.
Foot disorders affect most of the population at some time in their lives.
What Does a Chiropodist / Podiatrist Do?
Most of the care a Podiatrist provides for a patient involves one or more the following:
- Relief of pain from foot deformities, injuries and wounds.
- Biomechanics – treating mechanical problems of the foot and lower limb such as Plantar Fasciitis.
- Prescription and provision of orthoses (specialist insoles) to re-align foot or leg imbalances. This often involves treating specific patient groups such as athletes with sports injuries or people who spend many hours on their feet because of their jobs.
- Nail surgery using local anaesthetics for ingrowing and problem toenails.
- Preventative care for people with specific conditions which may affect their foot health such as patients with diabetes, poor circulation and various forms of arthritis including rheumatoid and osteoarthritis and gout.
- Patients with diabetes require special care as they are at an increased risk of developing problems such as skin infections and circulatory disorders.
- Recognition of systemic medical conditions which may first manifest themselves within the foot and alleviation of the effects of these disorders such as inflammation or ulceration
- Treatment of verrucae (warts of the foot), fungal infections such as athlete’s foot, sweaty feet, heel pain, corns, callous, chilblains and aging feet.
Podiatrists also provide foot health education.
Take a moment to consider the excessive pressure your feet are subjected to everyday. If you had to carry your weight around in your arms all the time you’d be complaining… and your arms would be aching! This pressure can lead to corns, callouses (hard skin), bunions and hammer toes. Fungal infections such as athlete’s foot can cause pain and irritation and make nails become discoloured.
Spring and summer months bring with them problems such as hot sweaty feet which may lead to athlete’s foot. Many people (especially women) will wear flip flops or sandals and these can cause hard cracked skin on the heels.
In winter months most people wear enclosed shoes or boots. If you have a corn or a sore toe, the pressure from your footwear can cause them to hurt more than they did in warmer months.
Heel pain caused by Heel Spurs and Plantar Fasciitis are common foot problems.
Pain from Plantar Fasciitis (sometimes called Policeman’s heel) often occurs when getting out of bed and also after resting. Robin Crawley our Chiropodist and Podiatrist treats a lot of patients with heel pains at the Complementary Health Care Clinic, along with Hannah Marshall our Physiotherapist.
By having regular podiatry / chiropody checkups, many of these problems can be prevented; most can be relieved by having treatment. So you don’t have to wait to have a problem before you see us!
