Professional Practice in Podiatry Care - Coursework Example

An extensive literature search was conducted using databases that included the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, EMBASE, Medline, Google, and Science Direct. Numerous referenced texts have also been used to research this assignment.
This activity aims to critically reflect on the significance within Podiatry care the ethical and professional issues surrounding the management of people living with foot morbidity. The assessment of the presence or absence of various signs and symptoms within Podiatry crosses into many other medical disciplines such as orthopedics, neurology, sports medicine, and rheumatology. Nevertheless, podiatry has a specific approach to diagnostics and data collection, and though it is mostly more holistic than other fields of traditional health care (Barnett, et al 2005; Curran, Dananberg, 2005; Thompson et al., 2005).
All signs occurring in foot diseases can be divided into two groups: subjective (complaints) and objective (visible or detectable by physical examination). The most common symptoms amongst patients with podiatric pathology are presented by pain, feelings of numbness, burning, tingling, and other manifestations (Curran, Dananberg, 2005). Caselli and George (2003) suggest patients can experience limitation of movement in the joints. Some diseases are characterized by inflammatory or atrophic changes of skin and deformations of the foot. For example, the condition called “pes cavus“ has the deformity of the foot due to a fixed plantar flexion. Another example of foot deformation is flat feet (Connors et al., 1998). These are all manifest foot conditions and can be subsequently subjectively assessed upon patient interview.
However, some podiatric disorders have not only local manifestations but also can seriously influence the common well-being of the patient through more obscure manifestations that are not easily detectable subjectively. For example, pain in the lower limbs can lead to cardiovascular problems and depression (Abramson, 1985; Udell, Weiss, 1998). Bennett et al (2001) suggest that changes in locomotion may influence the psychological mode and can decrease quality of life. This viewpoint is also supported by Bryan, et al (1991), and Wrobel (2000).
There are two approaches to the assessment of symptoms. The first one is qualitative which determines the absence or presence of a symptom without its quantitative assessment. This may be entirely subjective or based on specific observations by the podiatrist.