Keep On Your Feet

Clinical examination is probably the most fundamental skill a clinician can offer their patients, however if poorly applied, can lead to poor (or even disastrous) outcomes.

Prehabilitation is more important than rehabilitation. Almost. The idea of prehabilitation is that you are preventing the need for rehabilitation.

MRI Scans can be extremely useful sometimes, but can even be 'too' useful. I have arrangements with local hospital facilities to Berkshire & Buckinghamshire to organise MRI Scans.

Dermoscopy is a method of looking at the skin through a specialised tool called a 'dermatascope'. A dermatascope allows your podiatrist to look at lesions at a higher magnification and make diagnoses with far greater confidence.

Verruca Needling, also known as Falknor's needling, and incorrectly known as 'Dry Needling' - is a method whereby a verruca is punctured multiple times under a local anaesthetic block to stimulate the necessary immune response for it's resolution.

Essential for those with diabetes, current or ex-smokers, those with kidney failure or cardiovascular disease.

Rehabilitation is the process of returning someone or something to 'normal' after a period of injury. I like to make it into something far more useful though…

Nail surgery is primarily performed for ingrowing toenails. It can also be used for severely and permanently damaged nails, fungally infected nails and where trauma has occurred.

X-rays use very low dose radiation to assess structures within your body. For the foot, x-rays are primarily used to look at structure and check for fractures. It can calso be used as part of an assessment of infection and soft tissue health - especially arterial health.

Force plate and in-shoe podobarography (foot-force measurement) is useful for looking at how different parts of the foot interact with the ground and also in what order you start to use different parts of the foot.

Shockwave therapy uses a system of soundwaves to create localised soft tissue inflammation. Although inflammation may sound like the last thing that you would want to be applied to your irritable foot, it can very effective for reducing pain levels in the short term as well as encouraging damaged structures to heal.

Gait analysis is most useful for patients who do long distance walking or running and do not develop pain until later in their walk / run. It can also be useful for people who develop recurring issues such as heel pain, ankle pain or knee pain despite doing plenty of physiotherapy or rehabillitation.