The public is growing to recognize the need of both preventive care and curative treatment of the minor ills of this part of the anatomy and the properly educated, well equipped, efficient podiatrist is in great demand.
There is no scientific school for educating such practitioners in the world outside the United States.[45] In consequence, hundreds of such practitioners would also find need for their services along the lane of European travel, once it is restored. South American capitals, with large populations of foreigners, would likewise prove splendid fields for podiatrists.
[45] English practitioners laid the foundation for a School of Podiatry in 1914, but owing to the war with the Central powers, their efforts have been temporarily checked.
How Long Does it Take to Establish a Practice?
The answer to this natural inquiry depends largely upon the place of location, the experience and the personality of the practitioner. If one locates in a city where he is the only scientifically equipped podiatrist, assuming that he is properly equipped, recognition by both medical men and by the laity should promptly be accorded and that in turn would mean success.
If a graduate locates in a metropolitan city unheralded and unsung, his advance may be exceedingly slow and like the general practitioner of medicine, similarly situated, it may take considerable time for him to make a name and a career for himself.
If the experience of the new podiatrist has been augmented by application in a clinic or in the service of an older practitioner as an assistant (and such assistants earn from $25 to $50 per week in wages), such experience is largely helpful, not only in inspiring confidence, but in securing results. If the personality of a practitioner is such as to prove repellent to his patients, his path will be a difficult one. If, on the other hand, he is of pleasing personality, he will make friends and will increase his list of patients.
Where Podiatry (Chiropody) is Regulated by Law?
The following commonwealths have passed laws regulating the practice of chiropody (podiatry) and those desiring specific information as to the details of the same in any given state should address the person whose name follows the state, as here recorded:
California—Chas. B. Pinkham, M.D., 125 Stockton St., San Francisco.