I had a neighbour that was a podiatrist who spent a good few years trying to convince a teenage Rachael that podiatry was a great career. I had been a ballet dancer for many years and did not like my own feet at all. Needless to say I did a science degree for three years before I decided to listen.
Q. What is the most common condition you treat?
A. Being in a practice that sees everything, that is a hard question, but probably heel pain.
Q. What has been the most unusual condition you have seen?
A. The unusual person or unusual condition, I once had a lady tell me the moon cycle would affect her pet wolf and thus how quickly her toenails grew (she was very serious). Unusual conditions would be Serotonin syndrome, and I had to do a bit of googling to find out about that one.
Q. What is your favourite treatment that gets the best result?
A. Removing an ingrown toenail spicule. The instant relief the patient gets is really rewarding.
Q. What advice would you give your newly qualified self?
A. Ask as many questions from other podiatrists and allied health professionals as you can. Any opportunity to watch or observe, take it. Podiatrist are, as a group, always generous with their knowledge and experience.
Q. What are you most proud of in your career?
A. I’m quite proud of the work I’ve done with PodiatryNZ, particularly the recent conference in Christchurch. But the ongoing relationships I have with clients who I’ve been seeing for years is very rewarding, seeing them bring in other family members and their children.
Q. What would people be surprised to know about you?
A. I read over 400 books last year, I’m a fast reader and don’t watch much television. Thank goodness for Kindle Unlimited!
Q. What’s the funniest thing that has happened with a patient?
A. A man who was also undergoing prostate cancer treatment walked in and whipped his pants off on auto-pilot, then realised what he had done and stood laughing in just his underwear for 5 minutes.
Q. What can a new podiatrist do to connect with the profession?
A. Joining Podiatry NZ, signing up for the mentor programme, Follow Proud to be a Pod from Foot Science. As mentioned earlier, podiatrists are very generous with their knowledge, and most love giving advice and helping new graduates.
Q. Who’s the most famous person you have treated, you are allowed to mention?
A. A world famous Author whose pen name we all know and pretends to live in USA but is actually a New Zealander.
Q. How do Formthotics contribute to your practice?
A. I use them every day; they are our go-to pre-fab when we want fast and reliable. Foot Science as a company plays a big role with its sponsorship of Podiatry NZ and its willingness to help with research and learning.
