Information About Any Podiatrist Near Boulder

By Rosella Campbell


Podiatry falls under a branch of the medicine profession with key area of specialty being human movement and medical care of feet and ankles. The professionals who work in this profession are called podiatrists. These professionals are well distributed in the US allowing easy access to their services. Any podiatrist near Boulder is uniquely qualified to provide professional care for the foot, ankle, and lower extremity in general. These practitioners are sometimes called podiatric physicians or surgeons.

Doctors of podiatric medicine are well specialized in diagnosing, preventing, and treating foot conditions, diseases, injuries, and disorders. Their work allows them to provide independent judgment and order and/or apply many different diagnostic tests. Most diseases manifest first signs through feet, which puts these doctors in a unique position to identify them on time. In people who lack access to podiatric help, such signs normally go unnoticed.

Podiatrists have a wide scope of practice which varies with the geographical or demographical area one is located in. The job involves working with other medical professionals in the society as part of a team. Some of the tasks performed by a podiatric expert include prescribing medications, performing surgical procedures, treating sports related injuries, and setting fractures. Podiatrists may also perform or order physical therapies and fit or prescribe customized shoes, insoles, or orthotics.

Diagnostic techniques used require them to take and analyze the results of X-rays and other imaging techniques. In some cases, they may need to perform full physical examinations and medical histories to understand the nature of a condition a patient is suffering from. These practitioners have the license and authority that allows them to perform medical histories and physical examinations.

Practitioners with extra training, experience, and expertise can care for and preserve diabetic feet by performing full or partial amputation. Amputations are meant to avoid further loss of the limb or life. They have the authority to order and administer sedatives and anesthesia although this is an area covered by certified nurse anesthetist or an anesthesiologist. The commonly used form of sedation is intravenous (IV) sedation.

Qualifying to become a podiatrist involves training for many years, tests, and hospital-based residency. Admission into podiatric medical school is possible at graduate or undergraduate level depending on the jurisdiction of the institution. In podiatric schools, the first two years involve general courses similar to those of students taking medicine. Specialization starts at third year and extends into the fourth year which is also the final year in most cases.

Hospital-based residency training lasts for at least two years but it can be more. Some of the areas podiatrists have training include general pathology, general medicine, pharmacology, human gait, non-surgical foot care procedures, general anesthesia, and surgical techniques. Surgical procedures learned include enucleation, wound debridement, cryotherapy, partial or total nail avulsions, cutaneous procedures, matricectomy, and electro-surgical methods. With this kind of knowledge, they are able to handle a wide range of problems in people of different ages.

Major branches in the podiatry field include podiatric rheumatology, vascular specialist, orthopedic, neuro-podiatrist, medical physician, gerentological podiatrist, and sports medicine among others. Some people specialize in one of the branches while others specialize in more than one. Those whose specialty is in sports medicine are always on-site when their clients are engaged in sports.




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