PODIATRIST AT HOME
In Italy, the elderly population is constantly increasing and as much as 70% of this suffers from podalic diseases, ie diseases, trauma and malformations of the foot. If you add to this that some age-related diseases also reduce the ability to walk, the interventions of the podiatrist at home become indispensable. However, this specialized figure has not received the attention it deserves. The podiatrist, literally "he who treats the foot", offers his assistance in hospitals and in the RSA equipped with podiatrist clinic, but also at home. On the contrary, in the case of ascertained difficulty in walking, this type of assistance is preferred, if not even recommended. Podiatry home care can also be obtained through public facilities and at the request of a general practitioner, as required by current legislation, which, however, has never been fully applied. And meanwhile, in the silence of the institutions, the drama of diabetic patients who are seen amputating the foot because of a serious complication of diabetes, called the "diabetic foot", is consumed every day. This pathology, induced by the basic metabolic dysfunction, makes the patient's feet insensitive to heat, cold, wounds, ulcers and burns. In case of venous insufficiency in the lower limbs, the wounds may not heal and turn into gangrene.
The therapy to eliminate gangrene is usually amputation. If, on the other hand, the diabetic patient could also benefit from a podiatrist's home care, his feet would probably remain intact and healthy. But the podiatrist is not only concerned with diabetic feet, but also with other pathologies, traumas and malformations that affect this important part of our body, including ankles and nails. Depending on the clinical condition and the type of disease, home podiatrist treatments are divided into rehabilitative, nail and orthotic. The rehabilitation podiatry includes all those treatments aimed at recovering the functionality of the foot (and ankle) compromised by trauma, sprains, falls, accidents, surgery (hallux valgus or flat foot operated) or for congenital problems such as the clubfoot or flat foot . Nail podiatric treatments include dressings, nail removal and calluses and topical medication for diseases such as ingrown toenail, fungal infections, dystrophic nails, calluses and diabetic ulcers, decubitus ulcers, ulcers during rheumatic diseases, warts of the skin foot and mycosis nail. Upon prescription, the podiatrist also performs medications for foot injuries.
The orthotic treatments include the application of prostheses aimed at treating foot and finger trauma and re-education and reconstruction of the nail. In detail, the orthotic treatments of the foot include the following interventions: application of custom orthotics with plaster cast, nail orthosis, or reeducation of the nail with titanium thread (eg involute nail, ingrown), nail reconstruction with resin (es traumatic nail, onychomycosis outcome) and digital and metatarsal silicone orthoses. All the operations described above can be carried out directly at home through the intervention of a specialized podiatrist. In case of difficulty in finding the podiatrist at home through the request of your family doctor or through public facilities, the home podiatry service can also be activated by contacting the private assistance facilities.
