There are quite a few of our members that seem to suffer with various ongoing foot problems, which can cause obvious discomfort during the sessions.
Rather than me try to pretend that I know about feet, I thought it might help to seek out a local expert to see if there’s anything they can do for our members.
Let me introduce you to Caroline Strawson, owner of Northampton Footcare Services. Having had a good search around she is the person that ‘ticks the most boxes’ as far as who we would feel happy in recommending. Alex has used her and I have to say that her feet are pretty damn good!
Here is a quick interview that I did with Caroline about her business, expertise, experience and also the discount she is happy to offer anyone that comes through our facebook page or website:
What exactly do you do?
My name is Caroline Strawson and I am a podiatrist/chiropodist with over 20 years experience based in Northampton and the surrounding counties inluding Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. I studied at University of Brighton in a hospital totally dedicated to podiatry and obtained a Science honours degree in Podiatry and am registered with the Health and Care Professions Council.
I have ran my own successful private practice for many years and offer appointments in my clinic every Friday and home visits at times to suit. I am committed to quality foot care and patient satisfaction.
As a podiatrist I am a health professional who can assess, diagnose, treat and manage conditions of the feet and lower limbs. A podiatrist has an extensive scope of practice including –
- Assessment and treatment of common foot complaints.
- Assessment of the structure, alignment and function of the feet and legs with appropriate treatment such as insoles, stretching and strengthening exercises to correct any abnormality.
- Nail surgery using local anaesthetics
- Management of patients at high risk of foot problems such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and peripheral vascular disease.
- Advice on prevention of foot problems and how to keep your feet in good health.
- I also offer a simply toenail cutting service for my patients who are unable to cut their toenails and have no other health or foot concerns. Evening and weekend appointments are available upon request.
I offer routine chiropody/podiatry appointments for hard skin, corns, callus, fungal nails, heel pain, insoles, ingrown toenails with surgery and verrucae.
Over the years, I have undertaken further study in podiatric acupuncture and kinesiology taping as I have a keen interest in pain management and sports injuries. It is often the case that any pain in the knee, hip, back or neck could be related to your gait and the way you walk. I assess all of this in your appointment.
I also offer toenail reconstruction for fungal, damaged or unsightly toenails, and this offers a medical answer to this problem and allows you to treat and protect, yet aesthetically improving the appearance so it looks like a natural toenail.
I also have a keen interest in the holistic side of healthcare and am currently undertaking a course in Reflexology to compliment my business. As an addition to this,I am a Forever Living distributor, and am a true believer in the value of aloe vera and bee products for personal health and well being and am able to incorporate this into my practice.
I treat a whole host of lower limb problems from routine podiatry to sports injuries and surgery. If you suffer with problems or any pain in the lower limb or feet, I am sure I can help.
What’s the difference between podiatry and chiropody?
There is no difference between a chiropodist and a podiatrist. The term chiropodist has been traditionally used in the UK, whereas podiatrist is recognised and used more internationally. Increasingly, chiropodists in the UK are being referred to as podiatrists and many people in the profession refer to themselves as both.
Both chiropodist and podiatrist are protected titles and can only be used by people registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). The HCPC regulates the chiropody and podiatry profession and ensures that all of its members meet their standards for training, professional skills, behaviour and health.
What are the main problems that your patients come to you with?
I treat a whole host of complaints and treat people from 2 years old to 98!!!! My speciality is sports injuries and pain management so I see a lot of patients with knee and heel pain. I also treat a lot of routine podiatry, such as corns, hard skin, fungal toenails and ingrown toenails.
Every day is different, as every patient is an individual.
How do you treat these problems in laymen’s terms?
As previously mentioned, when I see a patient for the first time, I take a full medical history and talk to the patient about their concerns. As a podiatrist, I like to look at not just the symptoms, but the cause so that I can prescribe a long term treatment plan too. Treating my most common complaints consists of:
- Heel pain/knee pain – I use a combination of kinesiology taping, podiatric acupuncture, insoles and stretching
- Corns/hard skin – Using my scalpel, I can remove the hard skin and corns and I look at why it’s happening in the first place and offer advice with homecare and insoles.
- Fungal toenails – These can be very thick and yellow, so I use my drill to reduce them and cut away as much of the fungal infection as possible. I advise home treatments or toenail reconstruction where I use a medical grade gel to treat the nails, yet it stops spreading and looks like a normal nail.
- Ingrown toenail – This is a very common complaint, I cut the toenail back and will often pack with cotton wool to cushion the skin and encourage the nail to grow correctly. If this is an ongoing problem, nail surgery is advised.
I know a lot of people that will just ‘work through it’ and just put up with the discomfort. What are the potential risks of not getting these issues sorted?
The human body is an amazing machine but when there is something wrong, it sends us signals such as pain, swelling or bruising to let us know that something is out of balance. The potential risks of carrying on when you are experiencing discomfort can be devastating as if you do not seek medical assistance, you do not know what long term damage you may be doing to your body.
I am able to offer kinesiology taping to my patients which can allow training with certain injuries and problems to carry on training, as it facilitates faster healing and pain reduction which is why you see athletes such as Serena Williams, Andy Murray and Gareth Bale to name but a few using the tape.
Simple steps at the time of injury or discomfort can enable you to hopefully stop long term damage and allow you to return to full fitness as soon as possible without causing secondary complaints. Training on an injury or pain can cause long term damage and should be avoided until you can ascertain what the problem is. I am able to help you find that solution and offer advice as to what plan of action we should maintain.
What makes you different from the other podiatrists in Northampton?
I feel my experience and thirst for knowledge makes me an all round podiatrist that can offer my patients a whole host of treatments, dependent on complaint. As far as I am aware, I am the only podiatrist in Northamptonshire that offers podiatric acupuncture in conjunction with kinesiology taping for pain management, as I have found that using these two modalities in my treatment gives exceptional results.
I listen to what my patients want and need, and if need be, undergo extra training to satisfy those needs. I can treat a whole host of complaints and will offer honest advice. I believe I offer great value for money and patient satisfaction is extremely important to me. As I take on a holistic approach to healthcare, I look at my patient as a whole and offer advice on their complaints to look at why it is happening so we can try and reduce further costs, as oppose to continually just treating the symptoms.
Would you offer a discount to anyone that came to you via Fitter Body Bootcamp?
I would absolutely offer a discount to patients that came to me via Fitter Body Bootcamp. I would offer a 10% discount and would extend this to family and friends too. If it was a group booking, I may be able to offer a larger discount.
Here is Caroline’s website address and if you fancy getting that 10% discount as well then just mention that you read the Fitter Body Bootcamp article!
www.northamptonfootcareservices.co.uk
Ricky