Foot for Thought - July 1, 2010

I was reviewing some old posts, and I came across this post regarding some fun foot facts. I promised you many more fun foot facts in the coming weeks. Well, I would like to get back to these. So without further adieu, here are ten more fun foot facts.

1. The podiatric physician (doctor of podiatric medicine, or DPM) is the health care professional trained in the care of your feet. He or she receives conventional medical training, plus special training on the foot, ankle, and lower leg. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico require that they pass rigorous state board examinations before they are licensed, and most require continuing education programs for regular license renewal.
2. There are about 10,700 doctors of podiatric medicine actively in practice in the United States, and they receive more than 55 million visits a year from people with any number of foot ailments. Yet that's probably only a fraction of the number of foot problems. Mostly, say podiatrists, that's because many people have the erroneous notion that their feet are supposed to hurt.
3. Only a small percentage of the population is born with foot problems, the American Podiatric Medical Association believes. Its neglect and a lack of awareness of proper care -- including ill-fitting shoes -- that bring on the problems. A lifetime of wear and tear, plus neglect, accounts for the fact that the practices of most podiatrists are made up of older Americans.
4. Corns and calluses are caused by friction and pressure from skin rubbing against bony areas when wearing shoes. If the first signs of soreness are ignored, corns and calluses rise up as nature's way of protecting sensitive areas.
5. There are approximately 250,000 sweat glands in a pair of feet, and they excrete as much as half a pint of moisture each day.
6. Plantar warts are caused by a virus which may invade the sole of the foot through cuts and breaks in the skin. Walking barefoot on dirty pavements or littered ground can expose feet to this sometimes painful skin infection.
7. The seven colleges of podiatric medicine all have entrance requirements which, like institutions granting MD (medical doctor) and DO (doctor of osteopathy) degrees, anticipate completion of an undergraduate degree, though they will consider candidates who show unusual promise and have completed a minimum of 90 semester hours at accredited undergraduate colleges or universities. However, the colleges report that recent entering classes were, on the average, almost as likely to have more than four years of undergraduate/graduate work as less than four.
8. About 19 percent of the US population has an average of 1.4 foot problems each year.
9. About 5 percent of the US population has foot infections, including athlete's foot, other fungal infections, and warts each year.
10. About 5 percent of the US population has ingrown toenails or other toenail problems each year.