What is Podiatry?
Podiatry evolved from and includes Chiropody. It
incorporates the assessment, treatment &
management of patients with foot and lower limb
dysfunction and disorders. As a profession we
are acknowledged as being the experts at
dealing with problem nails, corns and callus,
verruca and for prescribing and issuing patient
lead corrective insoles (orthotics) that help to
reduce or eliminate aches and pains in the
spine, hips and lower limbs/ankles/feet.
Working here at Physic enables better cross
referral with Osteopaths as to the long term
consequences of poor back mechanics which
leads to detrimental effects to the mechanics of
the foot e.g. bunions, and conversely the effect
of poor foot and ankle function on the balance of
the spine/pelvis and its neuromuscular ability to
work normally. Which is a long winded way of
saying if your back is not right it can lead to
problems that need a podiatrist, and the
podiatrist is an important part of the team to
reduce back problems.
The cross-referral of practitioners within the
clinic is an important part of our ability to get you
the best, as well as the most efficient (time &
money) solution to your problem.
Podiatry at Physic
Reduced quality of life! Why? Age is not an
excuse! Treatments at Physic include: problem
nails, cracked dry skin, corns and callus,
verruca, Rheumatoid arthritis, Diabetes
Mellitus, cramps, painful feet, painful legs,
knees, hips & low back, sciatica.
Our state registered podiatrist is well qualified to
treat Diabetics, Rheumatoid sufferers and
specializes in falls prevention in the elderly,
lower limb length inequalities and its correction
of biomechanical (joint and muscle function)
abnormalities with insole therapy. |
Yolande Palmer - Podiatrist at Physic.
On completing her training at Northampton
School of Podiatry Yolande spent 3 months
working in the Ukraine, setting up and training
nurses in Diabetic Foot Clinics. On her return
she worked for the NHS in Cambridge and in
October 2002 became a full time private
practitioner. She joined Physic in October 2003.
Yolande is a trustee and lectures for Footcare
International, a charity that was set up to
improve the treatment for diabetic foot care in
the Ukraine and beyond.
She has 3 published articles in professional
magazines on ‘falls prevention’ and insole
therapy. She continues to research so as to
improve podiatry in general and her treatment of
her patients.
She is highly motivated and believes strongly in
educating her patients, in self care and
prevention to reduce future problems.
A Word or two from Yolande
"Each person I see has their own unique
problem, ranging from the relatively simple to
treat such as nails and corns, to the more
complicated cases of sciatica, shin splints or
painful knees where patient lead corrective
insoles may be prescribed. As biomechanics is
my specialist area I take pride in making all the
insoles I prescribe.
I hope that if you come and see me at Physic
you will have an enjoyable experience, have
confidence in my treatment and advice and
leave as person with increased ‘quality of life’.
I treat all age groups - from 2 to 102 years who
fall into categories of general, high risk, sports
and paediatric problems. Your problem is my
concern. I look forward to helping you."
Yolande Palmer BSc(Hons) Pod, SRCh MChS |
Iraq is not the only place a war is being
fought. Quietly in the UK an organised series
of attacks are unleashed via a less than
scrupulous press on complementary
medicine. These articles often have little to
do with reality, are at best biased and at
worst completely untrue. Vitamins ‘fish oils
are of no benefit’, Osteopathy and
Chiropractic ‘manipulation is ineffective or
cervical manipulation is dangerous’,
Homeopathy ‘NHS can’t afford breast cancer
drugs as it is wasting money on
homeopathy’ and so on. The thing
that I, as a practitioner resent the
most, is the inferred implication that
after 20 years of practice I am either
too stupid to see that my therapy is
useless or I am a serial con man.
There is an extensive world wide
knowledge base available and it in no
way backs up any of these adverse
claims. I leave it up to you to decide
where this all comes from; who loses
out from a decrease in drug use
(dependancy!); who funds the
research projects etc ….… (RG osteo)
A most astute response to the cry
against alternative medicine was that
made in The Times by Jerome Burne,
reproduced below:
‘Professor Michael Baum, who laid
into alternative medicine, is quite
right to be concerned about
wasting scarce NHS funds on “unproven
or disproved” treatments. Unfortunately
he has the wrong target in his sights. If
he’s looking to root out marketing
dressed up as science and protect
patients from being damaged by side effects
that have been deliberately kept
hidden, he would do far better to focus
on problems with prescription drugs.
While some are life-saving, far too many
are marginally effective and carry risks
out of proportion to the conditions they
are designed to treat. Drug side-effects
now kill around 10,000 people a year in
the UK – three times the number killed
on the roads - and cost the NHS over £4
billion. Patients are being perfectly
rational in seeking alternatives and it is
simply out-dated medical arrogance to
condemn them for it. |
Only last week it emerged that
one of the anti-depressant SSRI drugs actually
increased the risk of young adults
committing suicide – a possibility the
companies had always strenuously
denied even though in 2003 doctors had
been advised not to give these drugs to
anyone under 18 because of a suicide
link. The evidence for that official ruling
dated to 1996 but had never been
published. During the intervening years
UK doctors were prescribing more SSRI's
to children than any
other country in Europe
and yet there was no
proper evidence base
for this at all. Treating
those children by
changing their diet or
with acupuncture seems
sane and responsible by
comparison.
The scandal surrounding
the anti-inflammatory
drug Vioxx - withdrawn
from the market in
2004 because it doubled
the risk of developing
heart disease and other
vascular problems – is
another example of a
drug that was heavily
over-hyped prescribed
to millions for whom it was not
appropriate. Evidence that there was a
danger was once again downplayed or
ignored; one expert estimate puts just
the number of Americans killed or
damaged by a drug they took to ease
aching joints at 140,000.
Professor Baum demonstrates no
understanding why people are searching
for alternatives to his remedies. In any
other business, blaming your customers
for deserting you would be regarded as
a b i z a r r e and s e l f - d e f e a t ing
management strategy. If he’s serious
about patient safety and cutting costs,
he could start by demanding that drug
disasters are followed by an official
enquiry and that testing of promising
non-drug therapies is properly funded.’ |
