Define Podiatrist
No one would get far without her feet. Bunions and ingrown toenails are common complaints that are distressingly painful and sometimes incapacitating, and for a professional athlete, a foot or ankle injury can be devastating. Podiatrists, physicians or surgeons who specialize in medical care of the foot, ankle and lower leg, treat conditions like these and many more.
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Education
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Podiatrists must have a doctor of podiatric medicine (D.P.M.) degree from a college of podiatric medicine. Admission requires the completion of at least 90 semester hours of undergraduate study, with required courses such as biology, chemistry and physics; an acceptable grade point average; and accepted scores on the Medical College Admission Test. The colleges offer four-year programs, with courses in anatomy, chemistry, pathology and pharmacology in the first two years, and clinical rotations in private practices, hospitals and clinics in the third and fourth years.
Licensing
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A podiatrist must pass national and state examinations in order to be licensed by the state in which she will practice. Each state has its own licensing requirements for podiatrists, and many grant reciprocity to podiatrists licensed in another state. Completion of a one- to three-year postdoctoral residency program and continuing medical education is required by most states for license renewal.
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Certification
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With advanced training, written and oral examination and practice experience, podiatrists can be board-certified in orthopedics, primary medicine or surgery. The certifying boards are the American Board of Podiatric Orthopedics and the American Board of Podiatric Surgery.
Nature of Work
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Podiatrists are the only health care professionals whose total training focuses on the foot, ankle and related systems. Besides surgery, orthopedics and primary care, other specialty areas in podiatry include sports medicine, biomechanics, geriatrics and pediatrics. Podiatrists treat corns, calluses, ingrown toenails, bunions, heel spurs and arch problems, as well as ankle and foot injuries, deformities and infections and foot complains associated with diseases such as diabetes. In addition to performing surgery, a podiatrist may prescribe drugs and physical therapy to treat these problems, set fractures or fit “orthics,” corrective shoe inserts. A podiatrist may also design plaster casts and strappings to correct deformities and design custom-made shoes.
Interesting Facts
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The term “podiatry,” with “pod” derived from the Greek for “foot” and “iatry” from the word for “healing,” replaced the earlier “chiropody,” which combines “chiro” (“hand”) and “pod” (foot). “Chiropody” is considered to be an etymological garble whose meaning is unclear, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. “Chirpodist” was introduced by a London corn cutter, David Low, in a 1785 work that was considered the first English chiropody book until it was discovered to be translated excerpts from a French classic. “Podiatrist” was suggested as a more suitable term in 1914, and debate raged until the National Association of Chiropodists accepted “podiatrist” in 1958, by a narrow vote, according to Podiatry Now.
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