Get to know feet - inside and out, both healthy and not. Take the Foot Health Practitioner Course and you’ll receive comprehensive foot care training, learning the anatomy, physiology, systems, and dermatology of the feet. You’ll learn how to recognise nail problems, foot infections, corns and calluses, and high-risk foot conditions and how these can be prevented and treated. You’ll also become familiar with podiatry equipment, including their handling and sterilisation.
The Foot Health Practitioner Course begins with an exploration of the anatomy and physiology of the feet. You will learn about the structures present in a human foot, muscles and joints in a normal gait, and be able to differentiate between various bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons in a healthy human foot.
We look at the systems in the foot. This includes the major components of the circulatory system and describes their functions; the origin, branching, and insertion of various arteries in the foot; and the route, origin, and insertion of various veins in the foot; the various nerves in deep and superficial parts of the foot and how the lymphatic system of the foot works.
This foot care course then moves onto foot dermatology. We delve into the foot’s various skin layers, the different fascia in the foot, the anatomy and multiple parts of the nail and the various stages of nail growth.
In the consideration of nails, we discuss the problems that can arise in toenails. We delve into the basic science of thinning and cutting nails, some common issues that can lead to nail issues, various habits leading to poor foot health, how ingrown nails can affect the normal foot and recognising the ways and urgency to intervene in ingrown nails.
We’ll dive into treating foot infections - covering topics like common fungi that cause fungal nail infections and the symptoms, causes, diagnosis and treatment of fungal nail infection. We will also discuss the symptoms, history taking, diagnosis and treatment of verrucae and the symptoms of Athlete’s foot and ways to treat it.
You will discover how corns and calluses are treated. We will consider what corns and calluses are, and the significant differences between them, the different ways of preventing corns and calluses, as well as how they are diagnosed and treated.
The Foot Health Practitioner Course provides information on how patients with high-risk feet are treated and the processes involved in treating various foot ailments.
From a theoretical perspective, you’ll develop an awareness of the surgical equipment used in podiatry, how to identify various sterilisation equipment and develop a checklist for maintaining sterility in an operation theatre.
The Foot Health Practitioner Course concludes with a look at five case studies that look at the diagnosis and treatment for various foot conditions.