There are many clinical discipline involved in treating the foot and lower limb. The key one is that of podiatry. Podiatrists treat a whole range of different foot problems and different types of people with foot problems. The actual scope of practice of podiatry varies widely from country to country. In some countries podiatry is only a two year diploma and podiatry is restricted to superficial skin problems. In other countries podiatry is a 4 yr post graduate degree with a 3 year residency and podiatry goes as far as major rearfoot reconstructive surgery. Podiatry has an international umbrella organisation that is trying to look at some sort of standardised scope of practice for podiatry and standardised education programs for podiatry. While these aims a laudable, it debateable if podiatry can ever achieve this outcome.
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