Rangiora
SERVICES
General Podiatry Care
Diabetes, High Risk Feet
Biomechanics
(shoes, orthotics)
Paediatrics - children
Funded Visits?
(the above two require referral from your GP or Registered Nurse if you meet criteria)
(requires referral from your case manager)
Nail Surgery
available if required;
if nail surgery is required, a separate time is made;
Extras ... what may I not get elsewhere?
A thorough explanation as to the cause of your problem and likely outcome; what can you expect from various treatment options? Or from choosing no further treatment? Practical options, day to day tips and tricks to help.
If it is a long standing problem you have seen a podiatrist for before, is there any other changes we can make to stretch out your time between appointments? eg deflective insoles for corns under the feet, stretches/strengthening to slow down the clawing of your toes? Could seeing a health specialist in a different field potentially help you more?
Immunochromotography: on-the-spot dermatophyte (fungal) test. Properly clearing a fungal toenail requires considerable time and effort; how about we actually determine if the nail is fungal, or the nail thickening has been caused by something else? The nail may have been fungal in the past, but no longer be so. There are many reason for a thickened or discoloured toenail which do not include fungal infections. However, often they are obvious, and this test will not be routinely offered in this case. The charge is an extra $30, which is cost price.
Doppler ultrasound: unfortunatley uncommon in Canterbury. These occupy the testing space between simply feeling a pulse to extensive hospital tests. We can either be reassured more extensive testing is not required- or that it is definitely required ASAP! Let's listen to how healthy your foot and ankle arteries are. This is done during a standard appointment time at no extra charge
Ankle Brachial Pressure Index (ABPI) or Toe Brachial Pressure Index (TBPI)- (*requires an extra appointment)
taking either the blood pressure of your ankle/s or big toe/s, and comparing them to the blood pressure or your arm.
I mainly perform these if there is a question mark over whether your foot/leg pain is due to lack of fresh (arterial) blood flow, or possibly due to another issue, and there isn t yet enough evidence to get the extensive hospital testing performed. Also, if your doppler ultrasound above had an unexpected result.
They are also routinely performed in NZ by nurses before pressure stockings being issued. In Australia I performed these frequently on at-risk or high risk patients; which is not so commonly done here. It is a skill taught at university but often not used after graduation, so the lack of confidence, prohibitive cost of equipment, time consuming nature of the assessment and lack of public funding generally rule it out.