An organized
profession in the United States for over 110 years, the
Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (D.P.M.) is licensed to treat the foot,
ankle and leg both medically and surgically. The Podiatrist
graduates from one of eight podiatric medical schools and
completes a residency.
There
are approximately 13,500 active Podiatrists in the United
States today and each year about 6% of the U.S. population
sees a podiatric physician. There were 60 million patient
visits in 1999 by about 16.2 million Americans. As people get older, as obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes increase in our population, patient visits have increased tremendously. Today there is a critical shortage of podiatrists in our country.
Medicare
data verifies that podiatric physicians are the physicians
of choice for an average of 75% of forefoot bone surgery
and nearly half of all rearfoot surgery.
Podiatric
physicians are the major providers of foot care services
in this nation at nearly 40% of all foot care. In contrast,
Orthopedic physicians provide only 13% of all foot care.
The
next time you have a foot problem, consider a visit to
your local podiatrist.
Any ulcer on the foot, especially for diabetics or those with poor circulation, that is not responding and healing within 30 days must be reassessed by your doctor to determine the underlying reason.
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