Pediatric Foot & Ankle

The Importance of Choosing a Pediatric Podiatrist for Children’s Foot and Ankle Problems

February 18, 2021 Mikkel C. Jarman, DPM Season 1 Episode 1
Pediatric Foot & Ankle
The Importance of Choosing a Pediatric Podiatrist for Children’s Foot and Ankle Problems
Show Notes Transcript

It's important to realize that children's and adult feet are not the same and should NOT be treated the same.
There are many foot conditions that children have that adults do not. One example is Sever's disease. Sever's is only found in children but is commonly misdiagnosed as Plantar Fasciitis by podiatrists that only see adults. Podiatrists that rarely or never see children generally do not have the same knowlege of how to identify and treat children's feet conditions. These children will be diagnosed treated as if they were adults and the outcomes can be less than ideal or even damaging. In this episode Dr. Mikkel Jarman discusses the importance of choosing a pediatric podiatrist and how to choose the correct one.

Dr. Mikkel Jarman's practice Pediatric Foot & Ankle only treats kids and specializes in children's foot conditions from the ages of infant through teenage years.

Dr. Mikkel Jarman: 
Hi, I'm Dr. Michael Jarman here with Pediatric Foot & Ankle and today I'd like to discuss choosing the right podiatrist for your child, because unfortunately not all podiatrists are the same. It's very important to understand that children and adults are not the same and are not treated the same. Many conditions in children do not exist in adults, and herein lies the problem. Practitioners who treat adults all day are not geared for treating children and often misdiagnose children with adult conditions. This is commonly seen in healthcare and is why we have Pediatricians and in fact why we have Pediatric Urgent Cares and children hospitals. Foot and ankle conditions in children can be very difficult to diagnose and treat as children are unable to articulate well and can often be poor historians, and I believe some even have a hard time sitting still. But when it comes to treating children, urgent cares, or primary cares, and our pediatricians are geared to handle straightforward simple cases of foot and ankle problems. And as they progress and become more complicated, they get referred out. Now before choosing a podiatrist, it's a good idea to know what type of podiatrist you're trying to find because in the world of podiatry, yes, we are a sub specialization in medicine treating only problems in the foot, ankle and leg, you will find that we are not all the same and we do not practice all the same. And quite frankly we are selective in the type of conditions we want to treat. So we have general podiatry. Then you have specialized podiatrists such as wound care podiatrist, seeing and treating chronic wounds, palliative podiatrist, caring for elderly geriatric patients doing more nailcare. Podiatrist specializing in neuropathy and chronic pain disorders. Surgical podiatrists that see, treat, and try fixing conditions mainly with surgery. And of course, that is my last resort. And you have pediatric podiatry specialized and geared to treat your child's foot and ankle problems from newborns to young adults. So when trying to find a podiatrist, it's important to find the type of podiatrist that best suits your needs, but more importantly, your child's needs. So one of the best ways is to simply go online do an internet search pediatric podiatrist. This will help you find and locate the podiatrist that does specialize in seeing children. Talk to your pediatrician as they would be more clued in on who is seeing and treating children. On a more personal level. It may be better to ask if this was your child, who would you send them to? The experience your child has with a doctor will be a defining moment for them for the rest of their lives. I'm Dr. Michael Jarman here with Pediatric Foot & Ankle thanks for listening.