If you’re looking for an experienced and trusted podiatrist in Hong Kong, PhysioCentral now has podiatry services available to continue to deliver exceptional outcomes for your foot and leg health. Our podiatrists are proactive, forward-thinking, and use up-to-date evidence-based treatments to help you feel, move and perform your best on your feet.
What Is Podiatry?
Podiatry is a specialised health profession that focuses on the lower limbs. This means that podiatrists have comprehensive knowledge about the anatomy and physiology of the feet and legs, how all of the muscles and tendons work together to produce movement, and the problems that arise when something goes wrong.
Often referred to as foot doctors, podiatrists treat and manage a wide range of lower limb complaints that range from tendon pain or dysfunction such as Achilles tendinopathy or shin splints, to skin and nail care complaints such as corns, calluses and cracked heels. A lot of the problems that podiatrists see arise from overloading the feet, resulting in pain at the heels or the balls of the feet. Podiatrists are also qualified to perform minor surgical procedures including permanent ingrown toenail removal and verruca (wart) removal surgery.
What Happens During A Podiatry Appointment?
Podiatry appointments generally fall into two main categories, depending on the type of issue: musculoskeletal (biomechanical) appointments and skin and nail care appointments. A musculoskeletal appointment will help you with pain or injury in the lower limbs such as knee or heel pain, while a skin and nail care appointment can help you with problems like ingrown toenails or corns.
Regardless of the type of appointment you make, a visit with one of our Hong Kong podiatrists can be broken down into three stages:
Examination
Your appointment starts with a thorough consultation and examination. Your podiatrist will get to know you, the trouble you’ve been experiencing with your feet or legs, your goals for your podiatry treatment, and any other relevant information we need to be able to provide you with the best care.
Your podiatrist will then perform an examination that will include a series of tests. The type of tests performed is dependent on the problem or pain you’re experiencing, but may include a gait analysis, muscle strength testing, range of motion testing, a foot posture analysis, foot pressure testing, palpation around the injury site, and more. The goal of your exam is to help your podiatrist understand the nature of your injury, how severe it is, and the likely causes. This information is very important in helping construct the best, personalised management plan for you that will help you get the best long-term results in the shortest time.
Diagnosis
In most cases, the assessments performed by your podiatrist are enough to be able to confidently diagnose your problem. Your podiatrist will take the time to explain exactly what has happened, why you’re experiencing the symptoms you are, and fill you in on everything you should know about the condition or problem moving forwards. Knowledge is power, so the more you know, the better equipped you are to make the best health-promoting decisions in daily life.
In some cases, where the condition is unclear, we suspect you have multiple injuries at once, or we need to better understand the extent of the damage, we may refer you for medical imaging, such as an x-ray or ultrasound. An example of situations where this may be needed is if you’re experiencing severe tendon or tissue pain, above a clinical level that makes it important to rule out the presence of a significant tear in the tendon. In this case, having a significant tear will mean that we may recommend a different treatment route based on gold-standard guidelines, such as immobilising or offloading with a boot or walker first to accelerate the recovery process and help prevent further damage. Comparatively, this is typically not needed for a tendinopathy without a tear, or a very minor tear that goes in the direction of the tendon fibres.
Treatment
Once you understand the how’s, why’s and what’s of your diagnosis, we’ll discuss your treatment options. Your podiatrist will ensure that you are fully informed on all of the treatment options available to you, including what the recommended best-practice approach is. Your management plan is always tailored around your goals and lifestyle - it’s important to us that it’s realistic and manageable for you, so that we can effectively resolve your problem and not see it become something that periodically recurs.
Once you’re happy with your treatment plan, we are able to get started on your care, as well as booking any appointments that may be needed in the future.
How Long Does A Podiatry Appointment Take?
Our podiatry appointments for new patients are booked for 45 minutes for musculoskeletal complaints, and 30 minutes for skin and nail care complaints. This is because musculoskeletal complaints typically require much more investigation and have more components to the treatment plan that need to be discussed, whereas for many skin and nail care complaints such as corns and calluses, the diagnosis and treatment process is very straightforward, often with a very noticeable difference and pain reduction immediately following the appointment, depending on the nature of your foot concern.
What To Bring To A Podiatry Appointment
Please wear unrestrictive clothing, such as shorts and a t-shirt as opposed to jeans. Please bring your regular day-to-day footwear, including your walking or running shoes. Please bring any relevant medical information, such as the results (both report and images) of any x-rays or ultrasounds if you’ve had them previously for this concern.
What You Can Expect From Your First Podiatry Visit
Our Hong Kong podiatrists pride themselves on delivering exceptional podiatry care that goes above and beyond. You can expect to leave feeling listened to and understood, as well as well informed about exactly what is happening with your foot and leg health and why. You can also expect to have a clear understanding of your management plan going forwards, including what you should be doing at home to best support your recovery. As our podiatrists work closely with our physiotherapists, osteopaths and rehab specialists (including massage therapy), you can feel confident knowing you have a dedicated team to best support you throughout your recovery, utilising their services and expertise as needed.
Unsure about the best appointment type for your pain or problem? Based on your description of the issue, our reception team can help book you in correctly. Give us a call on +852 2801 4801 or book your appointment online.