Foot Health Week 10-17 October 2009

Chris Wigell’s Podiatry Experience
...and also the Predictors of Podiatry Utilisation in Australia Study

When Chris Wigell [pron: Wygal] won the Short Course World Triathlon Championships last month, the first person he thanked was his podiatrist, Adelaide based Michael Nitschke.

Chris’s debilitating foot pain, which was subsequently diagnosed as stress fractures, had appeared 18 months earlier - just before the National Cross Country Championships.

“I thought it was shin splints and I wasn’t too concerned, so I competed through the pain. The fact that the soreness had got gradually worse didn’t have any medical meaning to me. I just thought it was related to the training.

“But after the meet my feet were throbbing, it was horrifically painful, I almost couldn’t walk.”

“It was my Mother who suggested I see a podiatrist. I was about to go to a GP; when you get pain you just immediately assume that you need to see a doctor. I had no idea what a podiatrist did. I thought they cut toenails for older people. My uncle who has one does that for him.”

“Ironically my podiatrist [Michael Nitschke] sent me to a GP to get a referral for an X-ray and other tests.”

“After the diagnosis Michael told me I had to have three months off for the healing process. I was depressed because three months is a lot of time to not be training, especially in an endurance sport. It almost cost me an entire year.”

“If it weren’t for Michael I would have quit. He knew objectively how long it would take to get better and he reassured me that it wasn’t the end of the world. He helped me stay on in the sport and encouraged me to learn patience and to see the treatment through.”

“He created a cycling regime that was less weight bearing and changed my running technique through gait retraining and used podiatric services such of kinetic orthoses to offload the injurious forces.”

“I’ve had other foot pain problems since but Michael’s able to fix them very quickly; he identifies the little things so that we can prevent big things from happening.”

“My real life goal now is to be a professional athlete; start racing in the under 23s and then I’ll go on to elite which is the top of the food chain.”

About the study

• The study, Predictors of podiatry utilisation in Australia: the North West Adelaide Health Study, explored patterns of podiatry utilisation in a population-based sample of people aged 18 years and over living in the northwest region of Adelaide, South Australia.

• Foot problems are highly prevalent in the community; however no large population- based studies have examined the characteristics of those who do and do not access podiatry services in Australia.

• Data were also collected on education, income and major medical conditions.
- Overall, 9.5% of the total sample and 17.7% of those who reported foot pain had attended a podiatrist in the past year.
- Participants who had accessed podiatry treatment were more likely to be female, be aged over 45 years, be obese, and have major chronic medical conditions (osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure).
- Those who reported foot pain but had not accessed a podiatrist were more likely to be male and be aged 20 to 34 years.

• Only a small proportion of people who report foot pain have accessed podiatry services in the past year. There is a need to further promote podiatry services to the general community, particularly to men and younger people.