Podiatrist Career Overview

A Podiatrist is a doctor who provides health care specifically for the foot and ankle. Podiatrists treat a variety of persistent or acute foot, ankle, and leg abnormalities and conditions that may be unresponsive to treatment from less specialized doctors or medical professionals. According to the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA), there are an estimated 15,000 podiatrists practicing nationwide.

The educational requirements to become a podiatrist are similar to other medical doctors. However, podiatrists attend medical schools which are specific to podiatry, where they obtain a D.P.M. degree (Doctor of Podiatric Medicine) as opposed to an M.D. or D.O. degree. After obtaining a bachelor's degree and the four-year D.P.M., podiatrists must complete a hospital-based residency program before practicing podiatry.

According to the APMA, demand for podiatric care is increasing due to the increase in diabetes and obesity in the general population, as caring for diabetic foot is one of the specialties of podiatrists.

Compared to many other types of physicians, however, there does not seem to be as much of a shortage of podiatrists as in some related specialties such as orthopedics, sports medicine, dermatology, and wound care.

For example, The MD Firm, a national physician recruiting firm, has not been retained for any active searches for podiatrists in the past two years, out of a total of over 200 searches conducted for other medical specialties.

Additionally, podiatry is not one of the medical specialties governed or recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. However, podiatrists may become certified through the APMA.

Career options for podiatrists are similar to those of other doctors, in that they can choose to work in a variety of practice environments including but not limited to:

• Private practice
• hospital (public, private, for-profit, not-for-profit)
• Long term care or nursing homes
• Government health facilities
• Academic institutions