![Chiropodist Podiatrist in Northampton 01604 422772]()
Chiropodist Podiatrist in Northampton 01604 422772
Chiropody Treatment, Podiatrist HCPC Registered. Covering Northampton, Kettering, Daventry and Kettering & Wellingborough
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For a Chiropodist near me. Tel. 01604 422772.
Podiatrists or Chiropodists are specialists in the diagnosis and treatment of the feet and lower limbs. To become a Registered Podiatrist/Chiropodist you will have to of studied at University and gained a Degree in Podiatric Medicine.
Chiropodist meaning or Chiropodist definition:
Chiropodist v Podiatrist - They are both the same, Chiropody is an old name for Podiatry.
Podiatrists specialise in different areas, some are General Podiatrists/Chiropodists covering all areas and others specialise in specific areas.
If you have a problem with your feet, shin splints, knee, hip, back pain or just a general tidy up? Give us a call.
Many problems are due to biomechanical problems and we can check this within the time you are present at no extra cost to you.
Treatment is in the majority of cases painless so there is no need to worry. You will leave the Podiatry/Chiropody Clinic feeling much better than you came in.
There are many people with corns and callus together with fungal or unmanageable nails which can be easily treated in a half hour appointment. Treatment for fungal nails involve antifungals. Manufacturers claim to rid the fungal nails in days? This is not true and can take years of self treatment to no avail. So give us a ring as you can end up spending a small fortune for nothing in return.
The ageing feet may be painful, stiff or you just may not be able to reach which is where we can help.The chiropodist/podiatrist can advise on simple techniques to keep you mobile and feeling better. We will also make them looking nice and fresh.
You or another member of your family may have a verruca or wart and these are treated by various techniques. These are caused by the Human Papilloma Virus or HPV.
They are transmitted through skin to skin contact or you can pick it up of floors like showers, swimming floors or anywhere you are bare footed and where an infected person has previously walked.
If you have Diabetes it is imperative you have your feet checked regularly and have your nails cut to prevent any infection. You will also be given a vascular and neurological assessment of the lower limb. If the tests show up that you have lost any sense of pain, soft touch, there is a reduced blood supply or numbness this will be passed on to your GP.
You may have painful joints or heel pain that is worse in the mornings, these are treatable in our clinic.
Heel pain causes, well there are many. It could be plantar fasccitis, heel spur, enthesopathy, arthritis, subcalcaneal or retrocalcaneal burstis (the former is Policemans heel), fracture, bruising of soft tissue or bone, tendon or ligament problems (sprains and strains), nerve pain, gout, the list goes on so make an appointment with our Chiropodist/Podiatrist in Northampton on 01604 422772.
You could be suffering with ingrowing nails and have seen the GP a few times and prescribed antibiotics. This is usually short lived and needs urgent treatment to ensure that any infection does not progress. Ingrowing toenail treatment, depending on the severity, could be just clearing the area causing the problem or minor surgery under local anaesthetic, you do not feel any pain whilst removing the nail and a chemical is then applied to the skin so the portion of nail does not regrow.
Things to avoid if you have an ingrowing nail,
ingrowing toenail tool, kit, clip or ingrowing toenail home treatment.
If you are worried about your children's feet we also assess and treat children. It could be growing pains, intoeing, out toeing, your child maybe walking differently, the child may need devices in the shoes to correct the way the foot functions. It is best to see the Chiropodist/Podiatrist and be prescribed the appropriate devices as improper ones could make the problem worse.
We also see sportsmen & women and advise and treat many lower limb problems associated with the very differing sports and exercises they undertake.
If you have a skin problem these will be assessed and treated. The most common is Tinea Pedis (athletes foot). Other conditions can cause or look similar so contact the Chiropodist - Podiatrist for an appointment.
If it is found you need treatment by a different specialty, we will arrange an appointment with your GP.
Below are some of the most common pathologies that are seen in a routine clinic and treated:
Corns, Callus. Warts, verrucas
Permanent ingrowing toenail removal under local anaesthetic
Bunions Hammer toes
Fungal nails and skin Cracked skin/fissures
Ageing Feet
Sports injuries
Diabetic check-ups and routine care
Orthopaedic Insoles/arch supports/orthotics, heel pain, plantar fasciitis
prolotherapy
Arthritis in the feet Shin splints Knee, hip and back pain
Problems with childrens feet and gait
Joint pain, hyaluronic acid therapy or PrP (Platelet-rich plasma)
Minor skin surgery and many more
Covering Northampton, Kettering, Wellingborough,Daventry and Kettering.
The Emergence of Chiropodists
Time progressed, as did the English language. The term ‘Chiropody’ can be traced back to a practitioner of foot care who published a work in 1785 (Chiro [Greek -khier,hand] podos [foot] or Kheirpodes [Greek] chapped feet), (Dagnal 1983). David Low wrote ‘ Chiropodologia or a Scientific Enquiry into the Causes of Corns, Warts, Bunions and Other Painful or Offensive Cutaneous Excrescences.’ Low published his work after translating a 1781 French text by Nicholas-Laurent La Forest entitled ‘L’Art de Soignre les Pieds’ . Unfortunately it does seem that Low plagiarised the French work.
Shakespeare even quoted foot ailments that surely may have needed the services of a chiropodist. Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Sc.5:
‘Cap welcome, gentlemen!
Ladies that have their toes unplagued with corns,
will have a bout with you.
Ah ha my mistress!
Which of you will now deny to dance?
She that makes daintily,
she I’ll swear hath corns!
Am I come near you now?
And on it goes. Hindley c1884 documents the History of the Cries of London heard in the mid-1600’s, probably composed by the celebrated Orlando Gibbons. Ben Johnson (1563-1637) in his play Bartholomew Fair (1614) also depicts a character at a fair-ground entering the scene with a cry of his advertisement:
”Here’s fine herrings, eight a groat,
Hot cordilines, pies and tarts.
New mackerel I have to sell,
come buy my well fed and oysters ho!
Come buy my whitings fine and new.
Wives, shall I mend your husbands horns?
I’ll grind your knives to please your wives
and very nicely cut your corns.
Maids have you any hair to sell?
Either flaxen, black or brown?
Let none despise the merry, merry cries,
of famous London Town.”
It appears that the services of a chiropodist became necessary to serve the aristocracy and the well-off. The Seventeenth Century saw the advent of ‘Corn-cutters’. Such practitioners became respectable, enough for one, John Hardman, to have his portrait painted by Caulfield in the 1700’s. A sure testament to his fame and fortune. John Hardman became the chiropodist to the then King William of Orange. Respectability beckoned at his doorstep.
Portrait of John Hardman
1734 saw other revelations. Reed’s Weekly Journal announced that ‘Mr March, a famous corn cutter became the nail cutter to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.’ An annual salary of 50 guineas.’ Other practitioners were charging up to 1 guinea for an individual treatment. A guinea in the mid 1700’s was worth £150 in today’s terms (2015).
Corn cutter, or the preferred term corn operator, probably emerged as a professional title in the 1700’s. Certainly by 1750 such practitioners were being documented pictorially. Around 1750 an engraver by the name of Funney created an illustration of a corn cutter at work. The picture shows an early chiropodist complete with wig and spectacles and before him an array of surgical instruments. The mode of dress and the mere fact that such work was worthy of an illustration, suggests very strongly that this corn cutter was highly regarded. Through advertising and word of mouth, particularly in coffee and bathhouses, high society now welcomed a reputable practitioner to relieve them of their painful foot conditions. If it was good enough for the reigning monarch to have such a person in his employ, fashion dictated that everyone with money should follow suit.
The Corn Cutter, made by Bob Funney, published by Jackson, 1735-1765 (engraving)
Yet still the profession was somewhat dogged by the fact that corn cutters could be seen plying their trade on street corners. Over the next fifty years or so the chiropody ‘street traders’ gradually disappeared and were replaced by more respectable practitioners. Now they worked from their own premises and even circulated business cards.
In the 1800 London Kelly’s Directory there was one entry listing a chiropodist. By 1840 there were three and by 1880 forty such people registered themselves as practitioners, many offering other services, most notably tooth-pulling.
Textbooks started to be written and published. Hyman Lion, a chiropodist in Edinburgh wrote a Treatise on Corns in 1802 and in 1845 Lewis Durlacher penned the first complete text describing the treatment and care of foot conditions. Hyman Lion was an enterprising practitioner and aspired to further himself to the pinnacle of his profession. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University and graduated with a distinction, his ultimate ambition being to practise as a doctor specialising in foot conditions – perhaps one of the first attempts by a chiropodist to gain acknowledgement from the medical profession. However, he was prevented by the fact that his first calling had been as a corn-cutter, an occupation not considered worthy of the attention of medical and surgical practitioners of the time.
Chiropody/Podiatry as a Profession.
The first person to formally suggest that chiropodists should be regulated and their title protected was Lewis Durlacher, a London chiropodist in 1854. He was practitioner to George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria. He also attempted to establish ‘a dispensary for diseases incidental to feet … for the gratuitous treatment of the needy’ which, in 1913, would become the London Foot Hospital.
Although he was unsuccessful in organising a regulatory body, he wrote various texts which were far ahead of their time. In particular his ‘Treatise on Corns, Bunions, the Diseases of Nails and the General Management of the Feet’ was considered a definitive work and used by chiropodists throughout England.
Elsewhere, dignitaries in Europe employed their own chiropodists. The King of France had a personal chiropodist, as did Napoleon. Perhaps one of the most enterprising practitioners of the day was Isachar Zacharie, chiropodist to President Abraham Lincoln in the USA.
Zacharie was born in England of Jewish parents and travelled to the USA in the mid 1800’s, starting a practice in New York and later Washington. In order to promote his business he would treat civic dignitaries with no charge in exchange for worthy testimonials. President Lincoln wrote in 1862 ‘Dr Zacharie has operated on my feet with good success and considerable addition to my comfort.’
It appears that Zacharie enjoyed the respect and confidence of the President, so much so that the he was asked to act as an unofficial emissary and travel to the south, in particular New Orleans, to help stabilise Jewish support and encourage Jewish loyalty to the Union. Zacharie carried out this onerous task, whilst at the same time still practising as a chiropodist. Whether it was an unwritten request or a misunderstanding, Zacharie managed to treat 15,000 civil war soldiers, their feet suffering the ravages of ill-fitting footwear. After the war he submitted a bill for $45,000 to the War Department which was not paid. He died in 1897 in England and was buried with other persons of note in Highgate Cemetery, London.
The USA took the global lead in officially recognising chiropody as a profession requiring a collective representation when, in 1895, the Society of Chiropodists was founded in New York. Its first official Journal was published in 1907.
Five years later in the United Kingdom, Ernest George Virgo Runting (1861-1954), a one-time chiropodist to Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary collaborated with Dr Arnold Whittaker of Oxford. Together, they formed the British Chiropodial Society in 1912. Runtling was a prolific author on the subject of chiropody. His works include ‘Battalion Chiropody’ (1918), ‘Chiropody Jottings’ (1932) and ‘Practical Chiropody’ (1937).
In 1913 The Pedic Clinic was established in Bloomsbury, London. Here, premises were opened to treat the feet of the poor, it was even dedicated by the Bishop of Willesden, all treatment provided was free of charge. It was also hoped to provide training for aspiring chiropodists but with the advent of World War One this was delayed until 1919, when evening courses were offered on five nights a week.
In 1924 the clinic was renamed The London Foot Hospital. In 1940, during World War Two, the premises were bombed and the Hospital moved to Paddington. The advent of the National Health Service and further moves allowed the State system for training of chiropodists to be firmly established. In 2003, largely due to a dispute over funding of the hospital it was decided to close the establishment (Dagnal, 1988).
A Treatment Room at the London Foot Hospital circa 1939
The Second World War created a hiatus that affected everyone’s lives in the United Kingdom. For years after the conflict the shadow caused difficulties for any aspiring practitioner of chiropody due to such circumstances as closure of training establishments, shortage of raw materials for the manufacture of consumables and conscription. However, in an undated publication ‘Chiropody as a Career’, whose contents suggest that it was published post-1945 but pre-1948 and the advent of the National Health Service (NHS), Christina Cudworth, highlights some of the necessities required to set up in practice:
Chiropody Chair £22
Foot rest £3
Operators chair £3
Chiropody table £5
Nail drill £11
Floor lamp £4
Infra-red foot bath £10
Sterilized felts,
instruments and jars
etc. £4
So for a total of £62 along with a training fee for two years at £42 to £94 and 2 guineas for the examination, one could set up in practice. Annual earnings would be anticipated at between £200 to £400, (£6,000-£13,000 in 2014) the average treatment fees being 3/6d, 5/6d, 7/6d, (£6-£13 in 2014), with the addition of 33% for a domiciliary visit.
Evolutionary evidence strongly suggests that man walking bipedally,
living longer or squeezing feet into inappropriate footwear, has created
the need for skilled professional intervention. This piece shows that
while chiropody as a profession has only been represented by a
professional body in the USA since 1895 and in the UK 1912, with the
SMAE Institute being established in 1919, chiropodists/podiatrists have
been practising for around 4,500 years. It would therefore seem that
chiropody has a secure future.
REFERENCES
Cruse A. 2006. Roman Medicine. 117. Tempest Publishing, Great Britain.
Cudworth CC. Circa 1945-1947. 12. Vawser & Wiles, London.
Dagnal J C. 1983. A History of Chiropody-Podiatry and Foot Care. British Journal of Chiropody. 48:137-183.
Dagnal J C. 1988. The London Foot Hospital. British Journal of Chiropody. 53: 185-199.
Dart R.A., 1925, “Australopithecus africanus: the man-ape of South Africa,” Nature,
115: 195-199.
Kidd R. 1999. Evolution of the Rear Foot. A Model of Adaptation with Evidence from the Fossil Record. Journal of Medical Podiatry. 89: 2-17.
Leakey M D & Hay R L. 1979. Paleocene Footprints in the Leotolil Bed at Leatoli, Northern Tanzania. Nature. 278: 317-323.
Lewis O J. 1980. The Joints of the Evolving Foot. Journal of Anatomy. 130: 833-837.
Morton D J. 1935. The Human Foot. Its Evolution and Functional Disorder. Columbia University Press, New York.
PICTURE REFERENCES
http://zinjanthropus.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/the-feet-of-ardipithecus-ramidus/
http://robertsaunders.org.uk/wordpress/2009/02/27/15-million-year-old-hominin-footprints/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trephine
Oberhelman, S M. 2014. Anatomical Votive Reliefs as Evidence for Specialization at Healing Sanctuaries in the Ancient Mediterranean World. Athens Journal of Health March 2014. Vol 1:1 p47 http://www.atiner.gr/journals/health/Cover-2014-01health
http://www.art.co.uk/products/p28104359728-sa-i8571242/the-corn-cutter-made-by-bob-funney-1735-1765.htm
Cudworth CC. Circa 1945-1947. 32-33. Vawser & Wiles, London.
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