This article was written for a very short lived publication in our town called
Mountain's and Valleys. I think it was published about 1996
What’s A Podiatrist?
By: Michael Zapf, DPM, MPH
At a chamber mixer
the other week I heard a question that is becoming quite rare. On learning that
I was a podiatrist a new acquaintance asked me, “What’s a podiatrist?” After
regaining my dignity and answering him fully (I talked until his eyes glazed
over -it only took a few
minutes) I reflected on the question. Only a few short years ago it was
estimated that only 5% of the population knew who we were. Today, in many
locations, we have become the foot experts. A recent Medicare survey of
20 million Medicare recipients stated that podiatrists did approximately 70% of
all foot surgeries with orthopedists, internists and family doctors combined
only doing 30%. How did this all come about? I think my inaugural article in
Mountains and Valley’s might be a good time to tell you.
Our roots are with
the guild of barber surgeons in the middle ages. In those days your physician
was not a surgeon and, if fact, thought surgery demeaning. For surgery, say an
amputation or a little bloodletting, you went to your barber. If your barber was
trained in surgery he would advertise that fact with a red and white barber
pole. The red stripe stood for blood and the white for bandages.
As medicine evolved
surgery was added to the physician’s training. The guild of barber surgeons
broke up into specialized areas: cosmetic hair cutting, dentistry (in some
cases) and chiropodists who cared for hands and feet. Schools of~ chiropody were
started in the late 1600s.
In
the early 1900s a bright chiropodist wondered if a corn would go away if the
bone under it removed. He tried it and it worked. Surgical chiropody was born.
By the mid 1900s
surgery was an integral part of the surgical training
of chiropodists. To distinguish this new expert in foot surgery the name was
changed to podiatrist.
Today every
podiatric medical student is trained in surgical techniques. Many go on to do a
residency concentrating in foot surgery at any one of several hundred hospitals
across the country. Some states, like California, require residency training for
licensure.
Today most of us do
a variety of surgery on the foot from a little laser procedure for an ingrown
nail to complete foot reconstructions. On reflection it is quite impressive to
note how far the profession has come. It makes me confident enough not to
startle when asked “What’s a podiatrist? However, please don’t ask me to “take a
little off the side”. That might make me want to do a little bloodletting of my
own.
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Dr. Michael
Zapf is a podiatrist with a private practice in Agoura. He teaches part time at
the LAC/USC Medical Center. For more information call his office at (818)
707-3668.
