We’ve all been there: hurting ankles, ingrown toenails, sore heels. Cue the TikTok stretching videos, a new pair of shoes, insoles, acrobat-level twists to dig out that affronting nail, and “your digestion is no good” quips from your foot reflex masseuse.
What if we told you that these problems keep coming back because they simply haven’t been fixed? That’s where Straits Podiatry and their team of trained podiatrists enter the picture.
Think of a podiatrist as your dentist, except for your feet, ankles, and lower limb. In the same way that your GP cannot treat a cavity, he is not specially trained to look at why your heel hurts with every step you take.
From ingrown toenails to sport injuries, gait problems, and children’s walking difficulties, podiatrists are trained and equipped to assess, diagnose, and treat all sorts of conditions related to everything below your hips.
In short, they’re defo a better bet to solving your problems than your massage aunty and pedicurist.
There’s no need to be anxious going into your podiatric appointment. To start, there’s the whole: why are you here to see me today? routine that your podiatrist, like any doctor, will begin the consultation with. To get a holistic view of your condition, circumstances, and lifestyle, you can expect it to follow with more leading questions, asked in a casual conversation.
And it all varies, depending on your presenting condition, though you won’t be able to escape queries about how long you’ve felt the pain for, its severity, and the fixes that you’ve tried.
Then comes the physical examination, which is when some fancy equipment might come out to play. Depending on your complaint, you might get an ultrasound, which will help the podiatrist determine more precisely what might be ailing you.
Fun fact: A whopping 20% of the patients that Straits Podiatry sees each month suffer from heel pain, and almost a quarter of these patients were previously misdiagnosed as having plantar fasciitis. Besides plantar fasciitis, I was told, there are at least 5 other conditions that might cause something so deceptively simple as “heel pain”.
There’s an entire battery of tests that can be run just to pinpoint what exactly is causing the issues you face, including evaluating your muscle strength and range of motion.
Your foot is also scanned, with a super high-spec 3D camera that tells you its exact dimensions.
A gait test is yet another assessment that you might go through, which allows your podiatrist to see how your lower limbs and feet move as you walk.
Unlike at most shoe shops, where your custom insole is made based on an imprint of your foot, Straits Podiatry takes the extra step to ensure there is, in fact, no weight on it when the scan is made.
This is, in fact, the key to a better-fitting orthosis, because the shape of your foot is the most precisely measured when you’ve not got your full body weight on it.
Every patient, every case, and every ailment that comes through a podiatrist’s doors is unique – as such, the solutions aren’t one size fits all either.
A custom orthosis is a prescribed medical mould, unique to one’s foot structure.
Taking that even further are the custom orthoses which can be personalised to suit the shoes that you wear, be it sneakers, running shoes, or ballet flats. That’s a game changer, IMO, because far be it that anyone can say feet-friendly shoes are not aesthetic.
The line, however, is drawn at high-heeled shoes – they defeat the point of wearing an orthosis, so the workaround would be to wear shoes with the custom orthoses as much as possible, and change into your heels only as necessary.
Besides tailoring your treatment plan to your lifestyle, it can also be tweaked according to your budget. For instance, Straits Podiatry is one of only 2 podiatry clinics in Singapore which has both an Extracorporeal Magnetotransduction Therapy (EMTT) machine, as well as a duo of shockwave therapy machines.
In particular, they’ve got both the common Radial Shockwave (RSWT) machine, plus a Focused Shockwave (FSWT) machine – this delivers high-intensity, concentrated shockwaves for deep, targeted therapy.
NGL, for these shockwave therapy machines to work, it will hurt. If you’re being treated with shockwave therapy and it doesn’t hurt, then you either aren’t injured to begin with, or the shockwave is being set at too low a frequency to be effective.
If you still aren’t convinced, here’s why you ought to consider seeing a podiatrist.
The custom shoe shop in-soles, as personalised as they are, are not medical tools. The TikTok hacks to deal with plantar fasciitis don’t take your daily routines and your physiology into consideration. Your pedicurist is just that – a pedicurist. A gardener can prune your tree, but they cannot fix a sick tree.
A podiatrist is all the difference between generic advice and evidence-based, specialist-led assessments that actually help you get better.
We often ignore our feet problems, but here’s a news flash to tell you that it affects your body more than you think. For example, chronic heel pain changes the way in which you walk, which in turn hurts your knees, hips, and even your back. Ergo, it’s going to cause you greater problems down the line.
The new clinic at Paya Lebar Square.
Image credit: Straits Podiatry
Straits Podiatry is one of a few dedicated podiatry clinics in Singapore, with their latest location newly opened in Paya Lebar Square.
They started operations in 2022, under Healthway Medical Group’s Allied Health Division, guided by their mission to help people move with comfort, confidence, and freedom.
Each location is also designed to make all patients feel comfortable and at ease, with cushy waiting areas and a clean, minimalistic aesthetic. Each consultation room is also spacious and well-lit.
They’ve even got specially appointed, child-friendly rooms for the youngest of their patients, with full-height glass windows which make it easier for the podiatrist to observe the child at ease.
More than that, Straits Podiatry believes in really listening to the problems of anyone who walks through their doors. Then comes breaking the issue down into simple, clear, and thorough terms to explain what’s wrong, and the next steps towards solving it.
As far as possible, there are no invasive procedures, steroid jabs, or lengthy downtimes to dread; what they bring to the table instead are evidence-based solutions, with innovative technology, that fit right into your daily life.
Don’t turn a blind eye to your toes, your feet, and your lower limbs, especially if there are any issues that are bothering you or your loved ones. Rather than let the problems grow into bigger ones, get them in check from the get-go with a podiatric assessment.
This post was brought to you by Straits Podiatry.
Photography by: Shannon Tan
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