Podiatry

What does a podiatrist do?

Podiatry is a health care profession specialising in the care and management of the foot, ankle and lower limb. Conditions range from treating general foot pain to cutting toe nails.

If you are in discomfort or are not able to continue with your daily activities due to foot pain, your first course of action should be to see a foot and ankle specialist, a podiatrist.

Podiatrists are commonly known to cut nails and remove hard skin, however, there is much more to what a podiatrist does, from routine podiatry, to more complex assessment and mobilisation of common foot pain issues. To become a podiatrist requires completing a three year degree with training in a range of aspects (which are listed below).

Routine podiatry

This is maintenance care that may require appointments every 6, 8 or 12 weeks. Our team of podiatrists treat all ages for the following foot care issues:

  • Nail cutting
  • Ingrown nail treatment
  • Corn removal / enucleation
  • Removal of hard skin on feet (also known as callus removal)
  • Verrucae treatment
  • Lacuna – treatment for fungal nail infections

Biomechanical assessment

Our podiatrists use various assessment techniques to diagnose a wide range of conditions such as:

If you suffer from any of these conditions and would like to have a chat with us please get in touch.

Foot Mobilisation

At Avalon, one of the treatments we specialise in is Foot mobilisation therapy or FMT. We use FMT to treat the above conditions. It is a specialised hands on treatment, only available in a few clinics in Northern Ireland. It involves mobilising the feet and using corrective exercises to help restore movement.

Our treatments help reduce restrictions in foot and ankle movement and improve overall mobility in your feet and ankles. We aim to provide foot care that will allow you to get back to doing the things you enjoy most, such as playing with your grandchildren or simply walking around the shops.

With FMT, we encourage you to be active and involved in the treatment plans. By involving educating you on how to help yourself, you will get the most out of our treatments.

What is the difference between a podiatrist and chiropodist?

We often get asked what is the difference between podiatry and chiropody. To be honest, there isn’t any.

In 1993 it was decided that the old term “chiropodist” would be replaced with “podiatrist” to follow international standards. Podiatry is now exclusively taught in Universities (13 across the UK) whereas, in the past, this was not the case for chiropody.

Podiatry is a growing profession with an increasing number of podiatrists attending additional personal development courses, such as FMT, allowing clinics to expand and improve the treatments available to patients.