Welcome to the personal website of

Dr. Michael A. Zapf, DPM, MPH, FACFAS, FACFAOM

Thank you for visiting the web site of Dr. Michael Zapf. He is a member of the Agoura-Los Robles Podiatry Centers

The "real" practice web site, the one that contains registration forms, doctor information for all the office and directions to the office is located at:

www.conejofeet.com   ç Click here

I am Dr. Michael Zapf. I have been offering a full range of podiatric medical services, from ingrown nails to heel pain and foot surgery, to my friends and neighbors in the Las Virgenes, Conejo and Simi Valleys since 1985. This is my personal web site. It has been up since 1990 and has received more than 2 million visits. The entire site is my responsibility only and nearly everything on the site was written by me. You are welcome to peruse this site and learn what you can about me, your feet and the problems your feet can develop. Things happen fast in medicine so whatever you read could well be outdated, especially if it was written many years ago. On this site you will read historic articles that I wrote for a lay audience as long as 25 years ago, so please do not take anything on this site as definitive or as applying directly to your condition. You may wonder why I have my own site even though there is also an official practice site. Well, my partners are of a younger generation raised on tweets, e-mails and iPhones. They want a professional site that they believe better represents the professional nature of our practice. They also believe that people no longer take the time to read anything of length. I, on the other foot, think there is still a world out there full of people who still read lengthy descriptions of problems and solutions. if you are one of those old fashioned readers, then this site if for you. Let me know what you think. Let me know you are out there.

Please note that all information and photographs on this site are copyrighted by me, Michael Zapf, DPM, and cannot be used for any private or commercial purposes. I work with two other podiatrists in my practice who may or may not share any of my ideas and philosophy. Do not expect them to practice the way I do or even believe in any of the speculation I present here. If you appreciate what I have written and want me to be your treating doctor, you will have to ask for me specifically. Even if my office says at first, " He is booked until next month",  I still want to see you as long as you are a little flexible with your schedule. If your visit is an emergency, I know that  you will be happy with either of my associates, Dr. Darren Payne or Dr. Steve Benson. They are exceedingly well trained and capable in any foot emergency.

Michael Zapf, DPM, MPH, FACFAS, FACFAOM     (If you want to know what all those initials mean, click here   è  

Our office phone number is (818) 707-3668 and my e-mail address is zfootdoc [at] doctor [dot] com

Agoura Hills Office: 28240 Agoura Road, Suite 101, Agoura Hills, CA 91301

Thousand Oaks Office: 555 Marin Street, Suite 290, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360

For the address, hours and registration forms please see the practice web site: www.conejofeet.com

07/24/2010

To Order Foot Supplies è ç click

For Information about Laser Treatment for Fungal Nails Click hereè
 

For information about Shockwave Therapy for heel pain          click here è

Exciting news!!! New Thousand Oaks Location  è

Dear Jon,

Thanks for writing. You do have dilemma. I love being a podiatrist. I make a god living seeing wonderful patients with a variety of problems, without too much stress and have a good relationship with my medical community. The physical therapists I know love what they are doing, make a good living, see wonderful and grateful patients, do not have too much stress and have great relationships with the medical community as well. The new physical therapy programs all seem to have doctorate level degrees and the physical therapists get to be called "Dr. Jon". Most work for another physical therapist or a group of therapists for a few years and the ambitious ones open up their own practice and build their own client base - just like podiatrists. This is a hard decision.

Usually as a physical therapist you will see patients on referral from a physician with a specific problem: rehabilitate a shoulder, start a back program, get a joint moving. Less common (but getting more common) you will be the entry point for a patient into the medical system. Theoretically, you can charge for the assessment, the ultrasound treatment, the hot packs, the range of motion exercises, the massage, the electrical modality, the fitting and dispensing a TENS unit and the time on the treadmill, all generating a big bill. In reality the insurance companies will limit the number of visits and the amount of things you can do at one visit but you still can make a reasonable amount of money on a visit. The more mature physical therapists I know all have fine lifestyles and all their kids can go to even the expensive colleges. .

The new podiatrists are a little different from those that graduated when I did. The profession is evolving rapidly into a full fledged medical and surgical sub-specialty. After four years of podiatric medical school you will likely do a three year surgical residency at a major teaching hospital. Your first year will be learning medicine working with internists, the emergency room, neurologists, vascular surgeons and infectious disease specialists. The next two years will be spent learning surgery of the foot and ankle, including joint replacements, tendon transfers, joint fusions, ankle fracture repair, bone grafting techniques, external fixation techniques, reconstruction of the foot and ankle after trauma, infection or diabetes. You will also spend time learning how to manage huge infections of the feet that, in the hands of other specialists, would require foot amputation but you will learn to save the foot. You will be trained well enough to join multispecialty medical and surgical groups as the foot and ankle surgeon. Local politics may well get in the way of what you actually get to do, but your training can make you the best foot and ankle surgeon around. . While there are some podiatrists who devote a majority of their practice to sports medicine, most use their medical and surgical training to treat the injury from the evaluation, including ordering MRIs and neurological tests,  to ordering the physical therapy or doing a surgery to repair the damage.

Regarding salary, there are online surveys that show the average salary of a physical therapist in one area in 1998 to be $64,000 and the podiatrist in the same area to be $80,000. The salary today for both is probably double with many in both specialties making much more. Keep in mind that any salary surveys you see online are based on the average salaries which, in podiatry, are weighted down by all of us who did not have nearly the level of training you will receive. I know of no self-respecting graduate of a three year program who will work for less than $100,000 and the upper limit is quite impressive. A federal labor surgery showed that podiatrists earn about the same as dentists, more that family practitioners and less than general surgeons. Orthopedic surgeons are, by the way, off the charts.

But more than salary, there is tremendous job satisfaction with a podiatrist who has excellent training and is in a position where he or she has some autonomy. With nearly every patient you can make an improvement in their lives with only a few visits and, often, on the first visit. These happy patients will send their family members and friends to you and your practice will grow quickly. The podiatrists who are not happy with their lives, and you will see these on some podiatry blogs, are ones that, I believe, would be unhappy with whatever they choose to do with their lives. Never listen to a complainer.

Podiatric medicine and surgery also allows you to have a family life.  There is little night and weekend call, unless you choose to use your training and get involved in the emergency room or have a diabetic foot practice where infections do not always occur at a convenient time. You will be able to put money aside for retirement and be able to retire young enough to enjoy it.

Finally, the move in podiatry is toward combining our training with an MD or DO degree. While a combined degree is several years off, a couple of schools are currently associated with medical and osteopathic schools and I might encourage you to look in that direction,  There is a new school planned not far from me in Pomona, California, associated with the Osteopathic School of hte Pacific. The Founding Dean, Larry Harkless, DPM,  is a great teacher and will be creating a fantastic school. I have a link for that school here. Remember, you heard about this school here first. Jon, neither choice is wrong and both will give you a great life. As I said at the beginning, this is a tough choice.

No, check out the Pomona school:

 http://www.westernu.edu/xp/edu/podiatry/welcome.xml

Send mail to (zfootdoc at doctor dot com) with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2000 Michael A. Zapf, D.P.M., F.A.C.F.A.S., F.A.C.F.AOA.M.
Last modified: July 24, 2010