This branch of Podiatry has been developed in the recent years with the main focus on the natural functional movement of the foot – which let’s face it, has been working in such a great way for thousands of years. Functional Podiatry is part of the muscoskeletal(MSK) side of Podiatry, which effects anyone that has a foot. Some people have this misconception that we treat athletes only – at the contrary: the majority of our clientele is your everyday person who stands on 2 feet.
There are many theories which one can linger into about why in the past 100 years we have done our best to fix the foot, stop the foot from moving and from squeezing such a phenomenal piece of machinery (the foot) into stiff and narrow shoes;
Today I will not dwell into this but more on the importance that people understand what the whole thing about functional/natural podiatry is.
A functional/natural Podiatrist looks at foot function and foot pathology from a holistic and functional approach. Full movement assessments and a functional movement screen of both feet and the rest of the kinetic chain – can be used to identify weaknesses which could effecting both the foot and rest of the body. Moreover, we as functional podiatrists will do our best using specific tools, exercises and treatments to help regain the natural movement of the foot. Yes, there are exceptions and this also falls in the remit of the first consultation.
People are slowly slowly understanding the importance of being functional all throughout the day.
You might say, but I go to the gym! Perfect and well done but that’s what – an hour maybe 2? What about the rest of the day? What type of footwear are you wearing? Do you sit all day?
Have you ever wondered why a number of watches also track your standing time? It’s all about being functional, mobile and at the end of the day healthy and strong. Let face reality, it is kind of hard to erect a building on weak foundations and expect it to withstand the elements – so using the building metaphor if you don’t have a very strong foundation (the foot) you cannot expect that the rest of the body will follow suit and work perfectly.
We do our best to instil different options to be as functional as possible during your day – from standing desks or low desks to a midday quick foot exercise or a pair of toe spacers whilst you are taking an online meeting and the lists and options go on and on.
Clients which reach out to a natural podiatrist are people curious about the whole barefoot movement; some are fed up of wearing hard insoles and finding it difficult to understand why after all these years they have been wearing the same insoles but don’t really feel any difference when they take them off.
Some are just very informed about the subject and want to push their foot training to another level. Athletes that find themselves feeling a very weak base, although they train so hard. Bunion problems and ill-fitting footwear. Pain in the foot – like plantarfascitis, metatarsalgia or calf issues. Problems in toe movement or lack of movement, as well as problems with certain larger athletic movements like squatting, deadlifts and lunges, or simply walking down the pavement of your street. All of these, fall in the remit of functional podiatry and we are here to help.