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Podiatry is a lot more than bunions and in-grown toenails.

The 22 postgraduate podiatrists studying, doing research and performing surgery at UWA's new Podiatric Surgery Clinic take podiatric medicine to levels that many people have never imagined.

Six of these students are enrolled in the three-year Doctor of Clinical Podiatry program to become podiatric surgeons.

Professor Alan Bryant, Head of Podiatric Medicine, said their advanced clinical skills could be used in areas as diverse as sport, diabetes, kidney and vascular disease within an interdisciplinary team approach to patient management.

Sanaz Dehghan, one of the advanced students, said people did not realise that podiatric medicine could be the answer for lower back pain, hip and knee pain. "It is not always something wrong with your foot, but perhaps your gait, that is causing pain," she said.

"Many people don't think of a podiatrist first," said her colleague, Burke Hugo. "They will go to a GP first or perhaps a physiotherapist. It is a constant problem for podiatrists, that people just don't know what we do," he said.

But the sparkling new premises in UWA's Park Avenue building, the result of $2.6 million of Federal Government funding, should attract patients who will spread the word about podiatric medicine in the 21st century.

The clinic is the first podiatric surgery teaching facility in Australia to be licensed by a State Department of Health as a Class-B Day Hospital. "That means we can do foot surgery here that requires local anaesthetic, but not general anaesthetic," Professor Bryant said.

"We can do more advanced procedures in this new facility than the average podiatrists can perform in their offices."

Mr Hugo said the undergraduate clinic, on the ground floor, treated simpler conditions including straightforward problems with children's feet and sporting injuries. The new clinic dealt with more complicated problems.

Professor Bryant said both the undergraduate clinic and the new postgraduate facility, on the first floor, needed more patients. "But GPs are beginning to send people to us as they realise what we can do," he said. "While a GP's referral is not necessary to see a podiatrist, as it is with other specialists, it is usually desirable for a patient's GP to be involved."

While podiatrists doing postgraduate studies did some clinical rotations in teaching hospitals, the new clinic provides facilities for them to take private patients and to further their private interests in the field.

Podiatric Medicine is part of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences and is the only podiatry course in Australia taught within a medical faculty.

At the opening of the clinic last month, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Robson, said it was a significant step towards advancing the education and training of podiatrists in WA to the highest international standards. "It also fulfils our aim to provide high quality services to the wider community," he said.

Fifty years ago, podiatry was known as chiropody. Professor Bryant said the change in name, which took hold in the 1970s in Australia, was part of a world-wide trend.

Mr Hugo said it reflected a change towards more medical and surgical practice. "A chiropodist provided more superficial treatment," he said.

While training and treatments have become more sophisticated, the new venue for them at UWA has kept pace.

"This is such a beautiful building, with lovely peaceful views from the consulting rooms and operating room through the garden to the river," said Mr Hugo. "It's very relaxing for patients - almost enough to be considered part of the treatment!"

Telephone

General Student Clinic - 6488 4522

Postgraduate Student Clinic - 6488 4535

Hours

8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday with

extended hours on Monday evenings.

Location

Cnr Park and Crawley Avenues Crawley WA

Published in UWA News , 5 September 2011