Podiatry Portal » Podiatry

The ‘Circulation Booster’

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:03:30 +0000

The Circulation Booster is a product that is being widely promoted in the media as a device to help improve circulation. It is largely supported by testimonials and extrapolation from some scientific studies. Most of the evidence for the circulation booster is showing that it probably helps the venous return. No research has shown that it improves the arterial circulation. This does make sense as the Circulation Booster is supposed to work by sitting with the feet on a device that provides an electrical stimulus to the bottom of the foot to make the muscles contract. This will help the muscle pump return venous blood in the same way that walking does. This will have no effect on the arterial circulation and will have just as much benefit as actually going for a walk. There has been no comparison between the Circulation Booster and walking, but it is assumed that walking would have a lot more additional benefits that just acting on the venous muscles pump.

Lasers for onychomycosis

admin — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 03:50:35 +0000

The use of lasers for onychomycosis has generated some heated debate (Laser treatment for nail fungus) on its usefulness and the evidence for its use. There is very little evidence for its use and no controlled clinical trials have yet compared it to current treatments or a placebo. This has not stopped it being widely adopted into clinical practice and many claims made for its effectiveness (see the You Tube videos).

The most recent published research Treatment of Mild, Moderate, and Severe Onychomycosis Using 870- and 930-nm Light Exposure, certainly shows some promise, but this was a small uncontrolled outcome study. The outcomes look good, but there was no control group and no comparison to the current commonly used strategies.

The FDA has approved several devices for this therapy, but is only for safety and not efficacy. More clinical trials, that are independent and well controlled are urgently needed.

Chilblains

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:03:03 +0000

Chilblains are a common problem in certain parts of the world and almost unheard of in other parts of the world. Chilblains occur when there is a too rapid change from cold to warm temperature and the microcirculation does not respond as quickly as it should. This sets up an inflammatory reaction in the toe. Despite chilblains being very common in some climates, not a lot of research has been published on chilblains. The most recent published research was this: Perniosis: clinical and histopathological analysis that does not give a lot of insight into the problem. There are many suggested remedies, but none have been really tested in any controlled trials. Chilblains do remain somewhat of an enigma for the profession. There are many chilblain creams and chilblain ointments on the market.

Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT) Shoes

admin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:18:51 +0000

Masai Barefoot Technology or MBT shoes are shoes inspired in design by the Masai tribe of people. The shoes have a rocker bottom that is supposed to simulate the natural gait of walking barefoot exhibited by these people. The company make some extraordinary claims for the benefits and efficacy of these shoes on posture and postural complaints. There is some limited evidence to support the claims that the company make, but not enough to support most of them. Do MBT shoes work? There is probably enough data combined with some theory and anecdotes to suggest that they will probably be helpful in some groups of people and not in others. What is now needed is some good clinical research to help guide the decision making.

How to get your website to show up in search engines

admin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:19:14 +0000

Have you heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? It is the process of trying to rank a website well in the search engines, such as Google and Bing, to get visitor (hopefully potential patients) to your website. If you have a website for your practice, then it needs to be promoted and not just left to sit there. You need to make sure its in your advertisements and on your stationary including your business card. For the search engines, if someone types in “{City Name} podiatrist“, does your website show up near the top? If it doesn’t then you have got some work to do. See this article on a forum help site on how the search engines rank a website. To get a website to ranking well in search engines, you need to build backlinks by getting other sites to link to your website (this is called link juice). Another good option is submitting your site to web directories, such as DMOZ which also helps in link building. Generally, but not always, the more links to a site, the better it should rank in the search engines. If you serious and have a lot of competition for websites in your city, then you should consider engaging an SEO professional to help you, but beaware of what the professionals call the SEO Kiddies).

One eBook that can help you understand things more about websites and search engines quickly is the SEO Handbook. Its only about $20 and not a lot to loose if you not happy with it.

Reflexology does not work

admin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:51:02 +0000

Reflexology is an alternative medicine technique that involves the massaging or applying pressure to parts of the feet with the goal of encouraging a beneficial effect on other parts of the body, or to improve general overall health status.

Now we have two systematic reviews of the evidence on reflexology:

The review in the Medical Journal of Australia concluded that:

“The best evidence available to date does not demonstrate convincingly that reflexology is an effective treatment for any medical condition.”

The review in the Journal of Advanced Nursing concluded that:

“There is no evidence for any specific effect of reflexology in any conditions, with the exception of urinary symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis. Routine provision of reflexology is therefore not recommended.”

Quackwatch commented that:

“Reflexology is based on an absurd theory and has not been demonstrated to influence the course of any illness. Done gently, reflexology is a form of foot massage that may help people relax temporarily. Whether that is worth $35 to $100 per session or is more effective than ordinary (noncommercial) foot massage is a matter of individual choice. Claims that reflexology is effective for diagnosing or treating disease should be ignored. Such claims could lead to delay of necessary medical care or to unnecessary medical testing of people who are worried about reflexology findings.“

Gangstapod

admin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:34:10 +0000

How about this for a view on evidence based practice from Gangstapod

Podiatry Arena Turns 5

admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:19:27 +0000

Podiatry Arena is an online forum and news site for Podiatrists. It has a very international flavor about it. It is easily the most visited podiatry site on the web. Today it turns 5 years old, so happy birthday to Craig and the team for a job well done. As of today, it has 10,360 members, 8,157 topics and 53,866 posts which is an awesome achievement.