What is the difference between a podiatrist and a chiropodist?
This is a matter for debate amongst both professionals and the public. My own opinion is that there is no difference. The term podiatrist has come into use in the past twenty years in the UK, in an attempt to replace the term chiropodist. The term podiatrist has been in use in the USA for more than 50 years, where podiatrists have the same status of specialist doctors rather than just allied health care professionals. Following this example in the UK, I think the term podiatry is now being adopted to denote that we have been and are continually becoming more skilled and highly trained members of the medical and health care group of professions. The essential skills of the job, while evolving, broadening and deepening, have always had same fundamental objectives — promoting the health and individual awareness of the lower limb and demonstrating it’s connection with general health.
