Podiatry/Chiropody History

[efs]

I am still doing some research on this subject. It is taking longer than I anticipated. If you are looking, you will find that there is little to nothing written about podiatry inthe history of medicine or surgery books. You'll have to go back to the journals and some other obscure books. If you are interested in doing your own research look for Dr. Stuart Reed and Dr. JC Dagnally. They both had a particular interest in this area and have written much of what is out there. As I understand it Dr. Reed donated his personal library to the PCPM/Temple library, so that is probably the most complete. It really is an interesting topic. To best understand it also requires looking into the history of medical education in this country, particularly the last hundred years or so. It really puts things into perspective.
It may be a little while yet before I have finished some more reading and put together my thoughts. In the mean time, if you are interested I would direct you to Curtin's website. This is an Australian website with a decent history of Chiropody. Their emphasis is on Australia obviously, and their section on US Podiatry is essentialy empty. It does give a good overview of the early material though. I would recommend it.
Lots of good stuff out there, but it does take some digging.
More later.

I would also be interested in whatever others might dig up.

Thanks.

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[gower]

I suggest that you write to (or call) the admissions offices at several podiatry colleges and ask for leads on where to find a reliable history of podiatry; explain what your interest is.

 

[efs]

I am in one of the schools and have access to quite a nice library.

 

[efs]

I am still looking into the research. There really is a lot of informaiton out there. The probelm is in bringing it together in a cogent manner. I am now considering working on an article with the material I have gathered. I anticipate posting more info on it here, but expect it to be an abbreviated version of my end product.

To really understand where and how podiatry fits into the big picture you also need to understand the history of medicine, and in partucular the history of medical education; particularly in this country.

If you are really interested int his, let me know and I might be able to point you in the right direction for further refernces. If you are not that motivated, just keep watching here, as I will post more.

 

[the message]

History of Podiatry

While the treatment of foot disorders date back to the ancient Egyptians, it was a British man by the name of David Low
who in the 1700's coined the term "chiropody" [cheir=hand;
pody=feet]. This was the original name of podiatry. In fact
this term is still used today in Great Britain. In those days,
it involved the treatment of both hands and feet. It was much
less medically oriented than it is today. It involved primarily corn and callus removal, nail care, and diabetic foot care.
In 1961, the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) set up the Selden commission to review podiatric medical
education. The Selden commission's final report had a
significant impact on the future of podiatric medical education.
It recommended the need for a 4-year program comparable to other
medical schools. It also catalyzed the change in terminology
from Chiropody to Podiatry. There were 2 reasons for the change
in name: 1) the "chir" in the word chiropody meant hand in
Greek, thus it was not reflective of a profession that deals
primarily with feet. 2) The words chiropody and the chiropractor
sounded a bit too similar, and thus they did not want the general
public confusing the two professions.
Since then, podiatry has evolved from a palliative art to a
medical and surgical specialty of the lower limb. Today, there
are approximately 14,000 podiatric physicians and surgeons in the
United States. This yields a physician to patient ratio of
1:20,000. Also, the range of abilities of a podiatrist has grown
significantly. In addition to basic foot care, podiatrists have
since expanded their scope of practice to include various foot
and ankle surgical procedures. Nowadays, podiatrists have many
options and opportunities open to them. As a result of the
expansion of podiatry, specialty and subspecialty areas have
developed.

 

[efs]

It involved primarily corn and callus removal, nail care, and diabetic foot care.

Where did you come up with this part about diabetic foot care? I don't think that diabetes was really understood until much later than this, and the problems of the diabetic foot didn't really develop until more definative treatment of diabetes.

I appreciate your comments, they do give some interesting points to consider. There is really much more. When I have a bit more time I'll add to it.

Thanks

 

[efs]

Lets add a few posts here just for fun.

You missed a bit in the history or etymology.

Chiropody may have been a contraction of "chirurg-pody" with the "Chirurg" being in reference to surgeon; so it may have evolved from "foot surgeon".

A lot of this depends on what your references are.

 

[efs]

"In any discipline, the most capable practitioner is well rounded with a good grasp on the history of the craft."

"The history of any subject should be studied by all those attempting to advance its frontiers." - John L. Thornton.

 

[efs]

Just did a quick review of my references. I have somewhere around 50 articles dealing with the history of podiatry. Some are better than others. I may have a few more sitting in various other piles.

If you have access to a library with podiatric references you might enjoy some of these.

Harvey Lemont. "The Evolving Role of the Podiatrist". Journal of Podiatric Medical Education; Vol 12, No. 2 1982 pg 55-57.

Earl Kaplan. "The Last Fifty Years: A Historical Review of Podiatric Surgery." Journal of the American Podiatry Association. Vol 64, No 5, pg 346-356.

J Colin Dagnall. "The Footman Chiropodial Museum of FOot Care and Foorwear: A contribution to the study of chiropodial history." Chiropodist June 1986, pg 208-222.

Especially nice. From one of the MD professors at CCPM long time back.
George Herzog. "The practice of Chiropodya nd Medicine." Journal of the National Association of Chiropodists. October 1921, pg 5-8.

There is some good stuff out there, but it may require some digging. Have fun.

 

[efs]

Since I am at an osteopathic school, this one is fun to mention.

In 1938 the Judicial Council of the AMA made this statement;

" Chiropody is not a cult as is osteopathy, chiropractic, or Christian science, which have non-scientific bases of treatment, chiropody is an ancillary to medical practice in a limited field considered not important enought for the physician and, therefore too often neglected, and fills a gap in the medical profession."

Oh, how practices have changed since then.

It is always fun to look at history and see how things have changed.

Where will we be in another 20-30-40-50 years?

Those of us now entering this profession will have a large part to play in where we go. Lets make it count.

 

[efs]

One other quick note if you are looking into the history of podiatry. There have been a few changes in the way words are used. If you are looking at older materials you may see "orthopedics" being used. If you look carefully you may find that this term was used for what we would call "biomechanics" today.

Hope this helps a bit. It is a major part of modern podiatry and may be an area of confusion.

 

[efs]

There does not seem to be a great interest on this forum for more informationon this subject. I have been fairly busy, and have not had a chance yet to put all my thoughts down.

For those who are interested, I would highly recommend a new article. I recieved it today and have not yet had a chance to read it (Fairly long, it's going to take a while).

The latest issue of Clinics in Podiatric Medicine and Surgery (OCt 2001) (W B Saunders) is devoted to Biomechanics. The lead article is by Eric Lee, and is an objective look at Dr Merton Root's theories. It has a decent historical perspective too. In addition it is extrememly well referenced. (Some 702 references.) I have already noticed several that I plan on looking into.

Happy Reading.

 

[USeF]

just wandered in this forum for the first time today. Rest assured, future doc, people ARE reading your posts.

 

[John DO]

You are at DMU, efs? I have a friend just accepted to DMU. He is very excited. What year are you?

I am a student at KCOM, so he excited that he won't be too far from here, also. His story is interesting. He used to make fun of me for choosing DO over MD; now he is going to attend a DPM school that holds first year classes in a DO school. Poetic justice, indeed . . .

 

[efs]

Hi,

I'm currently a third year. I probably won't see much of your friend. I'd be glad to help if I can though. Most of our 4th year is spent in externship rotations. Aside from that I expect he will be fairly well bogged down with first year studies.

If you've already finished (or are going to be finished) with the first year, let him know what it will be like. It's no joke. Not a cliffs note version. My class lost almost 20 people in our first year. About half of those were academic. Most of them had to retake a class or classes the following year to continue. The other half decided they wanted to do other things, or found out early that they couldn't handle the workload and stress.

If he is interested in finding out more, I would certainly have him take a look at the notes I've already written here. A lot of them can be used as a starting point for doing a little reasearch.

 

[sandj9397]

Wow, he made fun of Do over Md and now hes attending a podiatry school.Poetic justice indeed

Whatever happened to this part of the forum? It is so quiet. Eric, I believe those twenty or so students are the same 20 in every dpm school. They are the ones that should not be there in the first place if the schools actually had admissions standards. Poor bastards.

where is everyone?? The message...are you still out there?hows school going?

 

[sandj9397]

Wow, he made fun of Do over Md and now hes attending a podiatry school.Poetic justice indeed

Whatever happened to this part of the forum? It is so quiet. Eric, I believe those twenty or so students are the same 20 in every dpm school. They are the ones that should not be there in the first place if the schools actually had admissions standards.I am sure the schools will do everything in their power to keep them there no matter how poorly they perform. Poor bastards.

where is everyone?? The message...are you still out there?hows school going?

 

[the message]

Waz up Sandj! Everything you said was true. I like the things I'm learning but I have many things I'll email too you. Later!

 

[sandj9397]

good to hear from you bro. Hope everything is going well for you. How's school?