Team work is often discussed in relation to sport and gaining momentum from the opposition but in business it is equally as important to stay ahead of your competitors. It is just as important to have a good team around you who you can trust and can rely on to receive that all important ball to put in the net.

People often ask us why we have so many clinics in Norfolk. Before we moved from the south of England we had 3 clinics which showed us what could be achieved with more than one. Since coming to Norfolk we have seen there is a need (as there is in most of the country) for Registered and fully Accredited Podiatry clinics.

We started with one clinic in a G.P surgery and after a year another in North Walsham which in turn set us up for another in Cromer and so on. All the funds gained from one practice has been implemented into the next, this has been going on for the past eight years with the result of seven clinics. Each clinic on the high street has also needed a financial loan to produce a dynamic finish which we can be proud of. The equipment is really the best available which means its life span and comfort to patients is not compromised.

Chiropody, as stated on our video, historically used to be down back streets and upstairs, somewhere your grandparent would go, it has always been associated with the elderly. Everyone has feet and anyone at any age can have problems, sports related, verrucae, in-grown toenails etc.Having our own shops on the high street means that we can be seen by everyone making Podiatry more acceptable to all ages.

I digress from “Team work” to give a history of our progress. To manage these seven clinics you need good team work, if you have a poor player on the wing and the rest are good it is easily noticed and of course the team can deteriorate. Business is only as good as the weakest link. We at Randell’s Footcare really feel we have the best team available.

So one of the main advantages to us all in having so many clinics is not so much financial as the costs are pretty high, but that it makes all our livelihoods safer than ever before in the private sector. If one clinic is not performing so well during one week then we have six more that we can rely on.

Another important point to note is that each clinician only works one shift at any one clinic a week, therefore we all move around so that when we leave a clinic it is up to the individual to make sure that the clinic is spotless and stocked up or they will be letting the team and patients down.

Team work also helps keep our mental abilities fresh and we all meet every few weeks to discuss treatments and how we can offer a better service.

Previously working in Sussex I remember a Podiatrist in solitary practice having to be off work for six months. His practiced suffered terribly as the patients went elsewhere because not all of them could wait for his return. With our team we can keep the game going which has happened a few times and we also have our own very important holiday cover.

So in short as a team we are able to deliver a quality service whilst keeping our livelihoods safe in these very uncertain times.

When we qualified a few years ago (actually many years) my business partner (alias husband) and I initially worked for the NHS, although newly qualified we found our working lives i.e.: hours and patient load were largely dictated by managers that were not always “in touch” with the reality of a day to day working Podiatrist.

I remember feeling frustrated with limited equipment and clinics that we felt were sub-standard. Of course we were idealists with high expectations as our training foot hospital was pretty much a flagship and we expected foot clinics to be of the same standards. So imagine our disappointment when we found that we had to work in clinics with fungi growing up crumbling walls largely due to the cut backs affecting community NHS services and buildings.

Perhaps because we already had maturity on our side (we both had previous qualification as nurses) we decided that Private practice would suit us better; we could choose our own equipment, furnishings and working hours. Of course easier said than done. Medical equipment is always on the expensive side, private suitable accommodation does not come cheaply and we hadn’t anticipated the 80 hour plus working weeks. But in true Randell style we ploughed head long into setting up our first clinic, borrowing from Grand-parents, working all hours and in those days burning the candle at both ends…

One thing severely lacking in our degree based education was any instruction on running your own business, perhaps not a bad thing or it may have put us off! Another massive learning curve but this time without a certificate to show off at the end – well actually we are still learning 20 years on.

But we have survived and managed (somehow) to bring up children, cope with sick relatives, move a few times and completely transfer our skills from one county to another. Patients so often say to us “I couldn’t do your job” So in answer to that we explain that “the job” is the easy part and that working privately has enabled us to dictate our own working hours around our children’s needs, have bespoke clinics with the best equipment and decor, given us freedom to practice wherever we choose, travel the world, live in a wonderful place and surround ourselves with a lovely bunch of likeminded work colleagues.

Running a podiatry business becomes part of everyday life and although demanding at times has given us all of the above as well as the confidence and self gratification we probably thrive off.

The down side? It has to work because who would want to employ us now!

Many times we hear of people falling and fracturing their hip, what would you think if I said in a lot of instances the hip breaks first and then you fall? Interesting maybe but could this be prevented? With the research I did with my thesis and what I have seen and heard since, I feel yes it could well be prevented.

Lets go back to when we evolved, we would all be running around on grass and soft terrain which would act as a shock absorber to the joints of the knees and hips. I wonder if lower joint problems would have been as prevalent then as now?

We now spend most of our life walking on hard surfaces and on average walk the equivalent of 6 times around the world. Without the soft terrain or grass there is immense pressure from our weight needing to be cushioned from this relentless concrete. In a word its like driving a car with shock absorbers or without. A car last a lot longer with them as would your hips and knees given half the chance.

Many people wear hard soled shoes, woman’s shoes are often the worse as high heeled shoes hardly ever have a thick sole, city gent shoes also lack much shock absorption, in fact any shoes with a thin sole will send vibrations up the legs. If we filmed someone in shorts walking on grass or concrete we would see the difference on the knees if it was replayed in slow motion.

A survey was done many years ago over a 10 year period comparing people wearing hard soled shoes and others in thicker bouncy soled shoes and there was a marked increase in hip and knee replacements with the thinner soled group. I remember an Orthopaedic surgeon giving us a lecture at university, he said we wouldn’t remember much of what he would say but would always remember how he was dressed. He stood on the desk for 10 minutes not saying a word wearing a black suit, black tie, black shirt and a large white pair of trainers. He said after that if thicker soled shoes were worn orthopaedic joint surgery would be at a minimum.

At university there was a tutor Mr Hawes who I always respected with his down to earth views on Podiatry. He had his own busy private practice in Brighton and worked at the University 2 days a week when we were treating patients. He always had a different approach to other lecturers with his long service in Podiatry. He often taught things which were never in a book.

I always remember him saying “Any pain in the foot then fill in the hollows”. What he meant by this was to fill in the arch maybe to give more support to the foot, or under the toes etc. Most people don’t realise that the human foot in its form should be running around on grass or soft terrain. Debris gets caught under the arch when in bare feet giving more surface area to take the load. I am sure that people feel much more study on their pegs when walking with bare feet on the grass as you are gripping the earth more and holding onto it as monkeys do.

Our bodies haven’t evolved to accommodate a hard surface below. Many foot problems such as metatarsal, heel pain and bunions could be caused by pressure from this surface, there is no give in concrete and we walk on it all the time. I feel that our feet are so small compared too the rest of our body that it is quite amazing that we can walk at all. It is interesting that life size robots can not be made to the same measurements to us, where they have a problem is in the feet, they are just too small. Any robot made has to have very large feet to accommodate the height its no wonder that older people are prone to falling.

When walking most of our weight (which can amount to over a ton a mile) is on the heel, some on the lateral border and then onto the ball of the foot, these are the areas that have pressure and maybe pain. I often use a felt pad with elastic to “fill in the hollows” which takes away pressure from the heel and metatarsal area.

It is like having a Lintel put in; the weight is then redistributed from the heel to the arch area and onto the ball of the foot. This allows more ground contact surface area. If patients are happy very thin orthotics can be made in the clinicwhich are heat moulded to the foot in a few minutes which has reduced the cost dramatically and has a life-time guarantee. These are prescription made which is much better than bought arch supports as each arch is different from foot to foot let alone patient to patient.

So many people ask us what is the difference between a Chiropodist and Podiatrist and we answer that nowadays there is no difference. Our society; the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists introduced the term Podiatrist in 1993 as it’s the internationally recognised name for a foot specialist and also to help distinguish State Registered Chiropodists  (those that had undertaken a 3 year training course) from Chiropodists that had done a home study course.

Nowadays both titles are protected and anyone calling themselves either title have to be registered and regulated by the Health Profession Council (HPC) Health Professions Council

Podiatry is a branch of medicine devoted to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle and lower leg and these days in the UK training consists of a Bachelor of Science degree undertaken for 3 or 4 years full time at University.