Podopediatrics?

[cool_vkb]

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Attendings/ Residents/ Seniors what are your views about Podopediatrics. as a speciality in general. I know we are comprehensive foot and ankle specialits and usually work in all spheres. But how common is podopediatry and popularity, earnings,etc?
Like you know Podiatrists who are in sport medicine are quite succesfull and so are the woundcare guys. im asking in those terms?

Our Pediatric Ortho final is tomorrow and i just looove the class. Are there any programs that focus more on podopediatrics?

and also are there any programs that focus on pedal radiology.

Im finding great interest in both of these subjects (ofcourse Biomechanics & Orthotics are my favorite. ha ha.)


PS: first yrs and prepods plzz stay away from posting your valuable thoughts/comments.

 

[krabmas]

Just my 2 cents from my limited experience so far...

If you want to do this it will take extra work on your part to find the right program and foster your own education (i.e. finding pediatric orthopedists to work with and teach you) and reading on your own. There are programs that do more of this than others.

In real life after residency podopediatrics is more likely to be a reality in a smaller town that does not have a pediatric orthopedist. One of the main things that pediatric orthopedists treat is clubfoot and other pedal congenital malformations. They train for 6+ years for this. You will most likely be exposed to a few months of this training maximum. And most clubfoot kids are now casted, so the rare occasion to operate and reconstruct a pediatric clubfoot (as in maybe once during residency) would not make you an expert or even really qualified to do this kind of work. If you were trained in the ponsetti method and wanted to practice that, this IMO would be fine since you would most likely do lots of this during residency. If you wanted to live in a larger city there is probably a pediatric orthopedist that does this work and they would probably not appreciate you stepping on their toes.

Again just my 2 cents from what I have seen so far.

If this is what you want though, do not let me disuade you from trying. I am extremely interested in microsurgery and plastic reconstructive surgery of the foot and ankle which is not that common in podiatry, but I will try to make this work somehow.

 

[Feli]

Just my 2 cents from my limited experience so far...

If you want to do this it will take extra work on your part to find the right program and foster your own education (i.e. finding pediatric orthopedists to work with and teach you) and reading on your own. There are programs that do more of this than others.

In real life after residency podopediatrics is more likely to be a reality in a smaller town that does not have a pediatric orthopedist. One of the main things that pediatric orthopedists treat is clubfoot and other pedal congenital malformations. They train for 6+ years for this. You will most likely be exposed to a few months of this training maximum. And most clubfoot kids are now casted, so the rare occasion to operate and reconstruct a pediatric clubfoot (as in maybe once during residency) would not make you an expert or even really qualified to do this kind of work. If you were trained in the ponsetti method and wanted to practice that, this IMO would be fine since you would most likely do lots of this during residency. If you wanted to live in a larger city there is probably a pediatric orthopedist that does this work and they would probably not appreciate you stepping on their toes.

Again just my 2 cents from what I have seen so far.

If this is what you want though, do not let me disuade you from trying. I am extremely interested in microsurgery and plastic reconstructive surgery of the foot and ankle which is not that common in podiatry, but I will try to make this work somehow.

Very good insight. It all depends on the practice climate where you go. Peds or major trauma cases of the F&A are high skill, high liability cases. If you enjoy doing the cases, then by all means, go for it, but be sure you have the best training in the area, probably fellowship, if you plan to go to a place where there are peds ortho, F&A ortho, ortho trauma, and fellowship trained (or just well trained and experienced) DPMs.

If you go to DeKalb for residency, Craig Camasta is a DPM who does very tough peds cases in both clinic and surgery)... and does them very well. That would be a good clerkship to pick if you like peds - or want to learn a lot regardless. Some other strong programs have similar docs who excel at challenging peds cases.

Will I do peds? Don't know. Like krabmas said, it depends on what area I go to and who is there. Like hers, my program exposes me to peds flatfoot, cavus, brachymet, met adductus, neuro bunions, etc... but it's not as if you see them every day. Will I do those cases after residency? Probably (assuming I have decent confidence with them), but I doubt I'd fight tooth and nail for vertical talus or TEV if there's a peds ortho in my hospital system who is experienced in those pathologies and loves doing those cases. It's a matter of how you want to practice, but it also depends on what your local patient population needs and what specialties/competencies of existing providers are already there for them...

 

[cool_vkb]

Very good insight. It all depends on the practice climate where you go. Peds or major trauma cases of the F&A are high skill, high liability cases. If you enjoy doing the cases, then by all means, go for it, but be sure you have the best training in the area, probably fellowship, if you plan to go to a place where there are peds ortho, F&A ortho, ortho trauma, and fellowship trained (or just well trained and experienced) DPMs.

If you go to DeKalb for residency, Craig Camasta is a DPM who does very tough peds cases in both clinic and surgery)... and does them very well. That would be a good clerkship to pick if you like peds - or want to learn a lot regardless. Some other strong programs have similar docs who excel at challenging peds cases.

Will I do peds? Don't know. Like krabmas said, it depends on what area I go to and who is there. Like hers, my program exposes me to peds flatfoot, cavus, brachymet, met adductus, neuro bunions, etc... but it's not as if you see them every day. Will I do those cases after residency? Probably (assuming I have decent confidence with them), but I doubt I'd fight tooth and nail for vertical talus or TEV if there's a peds ortho in my hospital system who is experienced in those pathologies and loves doing those cases. It's a matter of how you want to practice, but it also depends on what your local patient population needs and what specialties/competencies of existing providers are already there for them...

thanks feli and krabmas.