Podiatrists in Pinehurst, NC

A podiatrist is a foot doctor, in NIDDK's phrasing, and NIDDK puts one on the care team for anyone managing diabetes. The problems it sends to a foot doctor give a fair picture of the work: toenails that are thick or yellowed, or that curve and grow into the skin, or that you cannot see, feel, or reach to trim safely; corns and calluses, which it says to talk over with a foot doctor rather than cut yourself or treat with over-the-counter removers; and shoes or inserts, called orthotics, for feet whose shape has changed, including from bunions or hammertoes. What an individual practice takes on beyond that is worth asking when you call.

Around Fort Bragg the load on feet is occupational as much as athletic. Running, rucking, and standing duty in boots put the same structures under repeated stress, and that is a common route into a podiatry referral.

If you have diabetes, NIDDK gives a list to act on rather than watch. Call your health care provider right away, it says, if you have a cut, blister, or bruise on your foot that does not start to heal after a few days; skin on your foot that becomes red, warm, or painful, which it calls signs of a possible infection; a callus with dried blood inside it, which it says can be the first sign of a wound under the callus; or a foot infection that becomes black and smelly, which it says are signs you might have gangrene.

We go further than that on one combination. Go to an emergency department if a red area on the foot is spreading, or if there is fever along with it, and particularly if you have diabetes. That instruction is ours rather than the sources', and we would rather label it than let it read as sourced. What the sources say is this: MedlinePlus lists fever with chills and sweating, and skin redness or inflammation that gets bigger as the infection spreads, among the symptoms of cellulitis, and routes anyone with symptoms of cellulitis to contacting their provider right away; NIDDK routes red, warm, or painful skin on the foot to calling your provider right away. Your clinician is the right person to confirm the stricter line.

After an injury the reference is different. MedlinePlus lists the symptoms of a broken bone as a visibly out-of-place or misshapen limb or joint, swelling, bruising, or bleeding, pain that may be severe, numbness and tingling, broken skin with bone protruding, and limited mobility or an inability to move a limb or put weight on the leg. Its emergency routing, in its own words: call 911 or the local emergency number if the person is not responding or is losing consciousness; if a broken bone is suspected in the head, neck, or back; if a broken bone is suspected in the hip, pelvis, or upper leg; if you cannot completely immobilize the injury at the scene by yourself; if there is severe bleeding; if an area below the injured joint is pale, cold, clammy, or blue; or if there is a bone projecting through the skin. Its first-aid steps carry two more calls for emergency help: check the person's airway and breathing, and if necessary call 911 and begin rescue breathing, CPR, or bleeding control; and if the skin is broken, call emergency help right away. For other broken bones it says they still deserve prompt medical attention, and to contact your health care provider to find out where and when to be seen. Do not spend that time searching a directory.

Reasons people book: heel and arch pain that has not settled with rest and different shoes, ankle sprains, training injuries that keep coming back, ingrown toenails and other nail and skin problems, and routine diabetic foot care. On the diabetes side NIDDK is specific about the routine: ask your health care team to check your feet at each visit, take off your shoes and socks in the exam room so they remember, and get a thorough foot exam at least once a year, including a check of the feeling and pulses in your feet. It also says to ask your provider to refer you to a foot doctor if you need one.

The practical checks are on every ProviderQuoHealth profile: credentials, accepted insurance, and whether the practice is taking new patients. The guides below cover how specialty referrals work for military families.