I am a 16 year old boy and I have pretty bad flat feet. I have absolutely no arch whatsoever and there is a huge bump on the inner sides of my feet where the arches are supposed to be. My feet never fit my shoes and they get stretched out and widened whenever I wear em. Anyways, there are probably many people with flat feet here so I probably don't need to tell you about the soreness and the pains and stuff. For a while, I had no idea about implants and all that so I just stuck with these "custom" orthotics. I've been to several podiatrists/chiropractors over the years, and it's funny because I don't think any of them were legit because they all seemed to say that the guy I saw before him was a crook and was giving me shoddy orthotics. I live in southern California, around Pasadena/LA, and I was wondering how I could go about finding a trustworthy, reliable podiatrist who I can talk to about implants and surgery.
Number one, I'd see a foot and ankle orthopedic surgeon instead of a podiatrist. Ask around to friends, your family doctor, dentist, etc for suggestions of who to see.
I second Titchou's opinion. Podiatrists are excellent for some conditions. and some have had surgical training and are excellent surgeons. But an ortho's entire education is surgically oriented. Most of the time bone work is involved in correcting flat feet, and for bone work, I want an ortho. Just my opinion!
emmie
p.s. but if you go with an ortho do select a foot and ankle specialist.
something I read recently was that a State Supreme Court (I think it was Pennsylvania but can't remember for sure) ruled that a podiatrist could not give expert testimony against an orthopaedic surgeon concerning the proper standard of care. The ruling said that the training of a podiatrist could not compare to the medical training required of an orthopaedic surgeon so they were not considered experts of equal stature when testifying. Interesting.
Hi, thanks a lot guys. My Mom and I decided to try 2 different surgeons and see what our options are from there. I think implants are the way to go because I don't think I can afford being off my feet for anymore than 3 weeks. Do any of you guys have any experiences you can share about getting implants?
By implants, do you mean orthodics? I have worn custom orthodics for years and they DO help BUT they will not "fix" the feet. My orthodics have been great but I know some here have trouble getting used to them. Mine have always been made by casting the feet while laying on my stomach with feet "dangling". Others here will give a different method. Everyone is different/every doc is different.
When I mentioned implants earlier, I was talking about that small piece of titanium or something that you can have inserted into your ankle to give your foot an arch. Has anyone tried it? ANd if so, can anyone shed any light on how it went?
