Podiatry for Diabetes

I have been a foot care professional for the past thirty years. In the last ten years, my eyes have been opened wide to the issues relative to patients with diabetes who are at risk for the loss of their lower extremities. In my experience and especially after talking with patients, more often than not, patients lack the basic understanding of diabetes, what it is, how it affects their body, and how to deal with it and the many complications or co-morbidities that commonly accompany it.

In the early 1970s when I was deciding on a career, I learned about the profession of podiatry. The future seemed bright for this small struggling group of medical and surgical specialists. I visited several of the schools of podiatric medicine and learned even more about a career in this underutilized health care service. Classmates who had attended podiatry schools shared with me the fantastic things they were doing for people and their foot health. Since the profession offered a challenge to my personal growth and development of surgical skills, I felt that I would enjoy working in this area of medicine to help people resolve their foot problems.
Podiatry gave me the opportunity to practice both as a physician and as a surgeon. I was very interested in the surgical aspect of this profession. However, I soon realized that not all patients could have surgery because some are not in satisfactory physical condition to tolerate surgery; others do not have the insurance or the money to afford it. Some don’t have the time away from work to recuperate from surgery and others are plainly phobic about foot surgery. While the emphasis in podiatric medical training has traditionally been surgical, there are treatments other than surgery that can be provided by podiatrists to help people with their foot problems.
In my book Keep the Legs You Stand On, I share my knowledge as a podiatrist and many stories from the patients I have treated. Be sure to reserve your copy of my book on amputation prevention [link to contact page] before it goes to market in early January 2009.

-drhinkes