Orthopedics versus Podiatrics

This is a common question that I will encounter, and I thought I would enlighten our readers about how I tend to answer this:

Who is better for foot and ankle treatment, a podiatric surgeon or orthopedic surgeon ?

This is a long debated topic which spans several other forums, and may actually not have a defined answer in general. I feel this question would be best answered in paragraphs headed, "it depends".

"It depends" on training.

I will offer several reasons for this statement. The first being that not all orthopedic surgeons have the same training. The same holds true for podiatric surgeons. Some podiatrists are not surgically trained, and a pathology may require such an intervention. Many orthopedic doctors tend to spend more time on knees and hips, some have fellowships in shoulders and foot and ankle surgery training is minimal as a general rule. Surgically trained podiatrists must have ABPS board qualification or certification for adequate credentials, especially for more complex surigcal needs of patients, such as ankle fusions or calcaneal fracture open reductions. These podiatrists spend 3 years doing complex foot and ankle surgery and some even have an additional year of fellowship training as well.

Most podiatrists feel comfortable treating forefoot deformities like bunions and hammertoes, and if they have surgical priveleges they may treat these conditions quite well. Many orthopedic surgeons will not routinely treat foot and ankle conditions that podiatrists see in their offices every day. The few that are fellowship trained in foot and ankle surgery are more apt to treat these various conditions without too much trouble. Overal, if you are researching a new doctor for your feet, I believe it is necessary to know the qualifications of your doctor prior to making the appointment.

"It depends" on your problem.

If you suffer from heel pain, or nail issues, most podiatrists are able to effectively treat these conditions quite efficiently without surgical interventions. Again, if a blade is part of the treatment protocol needed to relief painful symptoms, it may be necessary to know what boards your doctor is part of. All of the podiatrists at FFLC are ABPS qualified, and that means we are able to surgically treat any foot and ankle condition. If you choose to go the orthopedic route for your care, you may need to know whether the physician has a fellowship in foot and ankle and is commonly seeing people for their feet issues.

We see the most common problems for foot and ankle pain here, as well as some of the most complex problems. We do this every day and that's all we do. Experience and volume speaks well for the abilities of our doctors to not only treat these conditions well, but treat them often.