Our feet work hard for us our whole lifetime and more and more people need some form of simple footcare to maintain their well being and ensure they remain mobile and have an excellent quality of life.
Foot problems are very common and can affect everyone of all ages. From corns and calluses, to bunions and hammertoes. What often may appear as something small and insignificant can pose great difficulties with footwear and with many daily activities, like work and exercise. Additional health problems may complicate matters, such as diabetes, thyroid problems and poor circulation. With regular foot care, foot problems can be prevented, or identified early and treated to enable feet to be able to continue to work hard for us in comfort. Having diabetes or other health concerns means that the well being of your feet is of even greater importance and a Foot Health Practitioner can provide a service where your feet are well maintained and any troublesome conditions can be spotted in their infancy treated and referred on if needed. Looking after your feet is one of the most important aspects of personal health care, whatever your age. During your lifetime, your feet could walk the equivalent of four times around the world! When we are young, the joints and ligaments in our feet readily adapt to the shock of absorbing our weight. As we grow older, structural changes like bunions and hammertoes can afflict these joints and limit their range of movement. Ligaments and tendons become less flexible and the foot needs more support and padding to adapt to the strain of carrying you around. Therefore taking care of your feet regularly can help you enjoy life by keeping you comfortable and avoiding possible uncomfortable or painful conditions. 
Trained Specialist
Tracey Battye is a registered Foot Health Practitioner, trained at Stonebridge college in Birmingham, UK. She is registered on www.footreg.org (registration number S257175). Tracey has had extensive training in all aspects of medical foot health care: nail trimming and reducing thickened nails. Callous (hard skin) reduction, corn enucleation, ingrown toenails, care of fungal nail infections, care and advice for veruccas, athletes foot, as well as care and advice for diabetic patients. She also has a medical background and is a qualified nurse with 37 years of experience working with people in a caring, empathetic and professional manner. |
Why use a Foot Health Practitioner?
There can be many reasons for using a Foot Health Practitioner (FHP), from routine nail cutting to general foot health improvement or even for specific foot complaints such as verrucas or ingrowing toenails. The service offered is to ensure your feet are healthy and in the best possible condition, whatever your age. A FHP may be used if you have mobility and/or flexibility issues or simply don’t have sufficient hand strength to operate nail clippers. It could be that your eye sight is not sufficient for accurate nail cutting and once a nail has thickened it can be very hard to cut. A FHP can deal with all of these issues for you. To be a FHP you need to study and complete a Diploma in Foot Health Practice, where you are taught correct procedures and safe techniques, including safe scalpel technique. Foot Health Practice requires practical skills, but these need to be backed up by a good understanding of the structure that we work upon (the foot), and how it relates to the rest of the body. In order to work safely upon the foot the FHP is required to understand how the body systems work both in health and disease and how they can affect the health of the foot. A FHP is qualified to maintain the health of the foot and work with many problems of the foot as described above. However they are also trained to identify when a person may need further advice from their doctor or podiatrist and will refer on if needed. 
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