Back in May I found myself strolling the streets of London just observing the madness that is that city. And while out and about I spied a sign that made my skepticism gland secrete, so I snapped a photo and promised myself I’d look into it later. Here’s the photo:
You probably can’t see what aroused my suspicions so allow me to do what the movies make seem easy. ENHANCE! (I would have enhanced first, but I thought the car and door were worth seeing just because they’re neat.)
See that? Chiropodist! That sounded fake. I had to know more. And generally knowing more is easy with a smartphone. But the UK had dumbed down my phone to the bare minimum, and I had to wait until back on Wifi to actually look things up. Which gave my mind time to wander…
Maybe a chiropodist is someone that does chiropratic with feet instead of hands? That’s kind of gross. Maybe a chiropodist is someone who thinks that you need to manipulate the feet instead of the spine to control someone’s vital energy? Maybe a chiropodist is someone who does chiropractic manipulations on the spine but only to fix problems with people’s feet? I had fun imagining the options, but I wanted facts! So when I could I looked them up.
Turns out a chiropodist is just another older and more British word for a podiatrist, which is a medical sub-specialty of medicine dealing with conditions of the feet. Podiatrists don’t have MDs, the have DPMs which stands for Doctor of Podiatric Medicine. They can do pretty much whatever your foot needs, including surgical procedures, but they aren’t supposed to treat above the ankle. I know it sounds nuts, but it’s legit. Granted, orthopedic MDs can treat most foot problems too, but the foot is complicated enough that some orthopedic surgeons will toss a case to a podiatrist when available.
So my suspicions that I had discovered a new branch of alternative medicine were unfounded. My skepticism paid off, but really I should have been equally as skeptical of my own preconceptions against funny sounding medical professions. And isn’t that an important lesson to be reminded of every now and again?
Ryan Haupt is one of the hosts of Science… sort of, a weekly podcast about things that are science, things that are sort of science, and things that wish they were science. Available for free on iTunes or wherever great podcasts are found.
I think that chiropodists assist the medical community greatly n that they provide care on a professional basis that relieves valuable medico time to not have to evaluate normally aging or sports injured people. That and any sort of insert at all makes me as tall and impressive as Audy Murphy.
Foot doctor tho? I have never heard of a chiropodist having medical or academic status that would require this.
So is there no Doctor of Chiropodiatry or anything like that in Australia? I asked an American doctor who works with a few which is where I got my information from.
My step-grandfather (can’t think what else to call him, really) was greatly benefited by being under the care of a chiropodist. He had diabetes, but was also rather old and stiff and had shaky hands and failing eyesight. The chiropodist did what he couldn’t; kept his toenails trimmed, and treated any blisters or sore spots on his feet, and examined his feet carefully to ensure that there weren’t any infections and circulation was as good as it could be. If he hadn’t had this, he’d either have had to rely on one of his grandkids to make “foot inspections”, or he’d have been at real risk of losing a foot from the complications of diabetes.
That’s a lot of what the chiropodist here does, in fact. He has a largely elderly and diabetic clientele, and a lot of his business is actually referred by the local GP practices. It is used as preventative medicine and to keep folk away from worse complications.
Good info! Thanks.
It was a TAFE diploma course in the seventies. TAFE has undergone a lot of structural change since then. Professional and paraprofessional courses that yielded diplomas and certificates are now generally catered to by universities giving more intensive training and hence degrees. There maybe PhD and masters programs associated with these schools (one would hope so). These would not give medical status but certainly academic status.
“podiatrist” seems like a word whose pronunciation might differ between American and British English. Can anyone confirm or dismiss my suspicion?
I’ve always heard it as “poe-die-uh-tryst”
Hope that helps!
-An American
Very funny Ryan
Of course, we’re beginning to say podiatrist more and more over here in the UK, so eventually chiropodist will become an arcane description for what we do!