Research

[ramseszerg]

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Is there enough literature on podiatry for a clinician to provide evidence-based care? A pubmed search of "dentistry" returns 360,000 hits, whereas a pubmed search of "podiatry" returns a measly 2400.

 

[janV88]

Maybe try searching "foot" or "ankle" or "foot and ankle".

 

[ramseszerg]

Foot: 84000
Ankle: 32000
Combine search: 12500

Is there much, much more research to be done, or is the foot less complicated than the oral cavity?

And 9 out of 10 hits were from fields other than podiatric medicine (plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery, etc). Not that that matters for EBM.

 

[janV88]

Well podiatry does encompass those other fields.

For what it's worth, I did a quick search of "orthopedic" and came up with 131000 which is still less than "dentistry".

From what I have heard there is a lot of room for research in podiatry. You should look up David Armstrong, DPM and check out diabeticfootonline.com

Hopefully an attending or resident more involved in research can answer your question further. I'm only a pre-pod lol.

 

[ramseszerg]

To be fair, specialties in dentistry:

orthodontics: 43000
oral and maxillofacial surgery: 17000
endodontics: 23000

 

[ramseszerg]

Specialties in podiatry:

Reconstructive rearfoot and ankle surgery: 4
Podopaediatrics: 12

 

[PMSIII]

Foot: 84000
Ankle: 32000
Combine search: 12500

Is there much, much more research to be done, or is the foot less complicated than the oral cavity?

And 9 out of 10 hits were from fields other than podiatric medicine (plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery, etc). Not that that matters for EBM.

Well there is a number of factors to be considered more so than a simple pubmed search:
1) DPM-based research is not exclusively published in orthopedic journals such as Foot and Ankle International, Clinics in Orthopaedics Related Research, Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, etc. The large bulk of the research is published in DPM-based journals such as Journal of Foot and ankle surgery, Clinics in Podiatric medicine and Surgery.

2) The number of DPMs compared to Dentists is significantly smaller - statistically the ones that publish is even smaller

3) A lot of the principles that we use in Foot and Ankle surgery today are based out of Orthopaedic literature - specifically foot and ankle literature like some of the aforementioned journals above.

4) A lot of the research pertaining to the practice of podiatric medicine and surgery is published in non-foot and ankle related journals i.e. plastics, dermatology, and even general ortho. The idea is that we adapted a lot of the principles and apply the evidence based philosophy in our practices in dealing with complicated foot and ankle pathology.

The point in all this is that you are essentially comparing Apples to Oranges. Foot and Ankle surgery is a big field and plenty of research is being contributed by DPMs, Orthopaedic Surgeons, Plastic Surgeons, Vascular surgeons, Dermatologists, etc. Today more than ever, there is a push to continue with this research activity because the opportunities are definitely there.

 

[diabeticfootdr]

Specialties in podiatry:

Reconstructive rearfoot and ankle surgery: 4
Podopaediatrics: 12

What's your point?

Comparing research done and Pubmed hits from one discipline to another provides is a pointless exercise.

"Podiatry" is not a key word used in most foot and ankle literature written by podiatrists. It's like expecting a cardiologist to put "cardiology" in the title of each manuscript or key words.

 

[ramseszerg]

Not trying to make a point, just want to find out what's going on.

 

[diabeticfootdr]

Not trying to make a point, just want to find out what's going on.

Okay, I couldn't tell if you were being contentious. Well if you have an interest in research, you might say to yourself ... "such an opportunity in podiatry, because no one else is doing it", versus everyone else who is doing toothpaste research in dentistry.