At a new patient podiatry appointment. People may often wonder what is involved. We usually start by taking a simple medical history, check the status of your skin, your nails, look for any corns or hard skin, conduct a very basic orthopaedic, neurological and vascular assessment of your feet and lower legs.
Most people already know what they are coming to clinic for, it is usually skin and nail care, managing and preventing in-grown toe nails, reduction of corns and calluses, and addressing splits in hard skin. In many cases however, some people require other attention such as verrucae treatment, gait analysis and more.
At the assessment, you practitioner can discuss your needs and provide advice or even treatment. We thought this might be interesting. Here are some of the basic and more advanced equipment you may see in clinic along with some orthotic options whether it be part of your neurological, vascular, skin or orthopaedic assessment.
We have options for a quick gait scan to stand you on the force plate (although this is not a detailed biomechanics/musculoskeletal assessment, your Podiatrist can discuss if you may need this). It helps us identify your balance, your unique foot print, and may help identify some risk factors such as why your developing hard skin, or why you may get heel pain/achillies pain or even in some cases back pain. We believe the force plate and gait analysis data is very useful and helpful for diabetic patients and those who may have a loss of fat padding under the feet.
Foot Scan with Orthotic Options
During a neurological assessment, we will have a quick check on how sensitive your feet are, in particular, patients with diabetes or vascular issues or you may have a compromised immune system, knowing how sensitive your feet are, is a great baseline for you to have. If you lack some sensitivity, then checking your feet daily is good advice and, your Podiatrist can help you with regular checks and updates.
Tunning fork to detect vibration perception, 10gram mono filament for light touch. Oxymeter useful to have in clinic as part of overall health check.
At a vascular assessment, we will check your pulses on your feet, you have two main ones, your dorsalis pedis (top of mid foot) and your posterior tibial (under the inside ankle bone just above arch of your foot). As standard we can feel these with our fingers, however the use of a doppler to HEAR the pulse wave form is the best way.
Finally should you require foot health and footwear advice, your Podiatrist/Chiropodist can discuss your long term needs. As mentioned we can help with providing everything from custom made orthotics to just simple advice on shoes. Not everyone needs orthotic devices and the shoes you wear, are a choice.
Foot scan helps us as part of the diagnostic tool set in assisting you in getting the best from your feet.
Foot Scan images showing pressure points of feet and timings
Identifying pressure and comfort risk factors for person who laterally loads a little much.
3D Scans of the feet with dynamic gait scan overlay for casting of custom orthotics.
And finally, although the technology is great, it all starts with your needs, and the discussion you have with your practitioner. That way, they can help you maintain or even improve your feet so that they feel great all day.
If you believe you can benefit from a Podiatry New Patient assessment then we are more than happy to help at Coastal Podiatry, just contact us at your clinic address.
Coastal Podiatry at Sandbanks Clinic 01202 748 899.
Home visits and out of hours. 07748 142169