A podiatrist is a health care professional specialising in the management and treatment of the lower limb and foot. A podiatrist can help treat a wide range of conditions and help in the management of chronic disease and even general foot care. The helpful podiatrists at The Walking Clinic can treat a wide range of problems, these include:

• Plantar Fasciitis, heel pain and heel spurs
• Fungal nail infections and nail problems
• Tendon and ligament injuries
• Morton’s neuroma or nerve pain
• Surgical and Non-Surgical treatment of ingrown nails
• Treatment of other nail conditions
• Custom orthotics as management of lower limb pain
• Diabetes assessment and care
• Knee pain
• Tired and painful feet
• Fractures and stress fractures
• Ankle sprains
• Children’s lower-leg development and growing pains
• General foot care including corns and callus
• And Many More!

In general circumstances, No referral is required, however Medicare EPC patients or Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) patients will require a referral from their GP.

During your initial consultation your podiatrist will take a thorough history concerning your presenting problem as well as your medical and surgical history. Your podiatrist will make all efforts to accurately diagnose your condition and initiate treatment during your first visit where possible.

The Walking Clinic offers HICAPS facilities which allow convenient on-the-spot health fund rebates for patients insured with eligible health funds. We advise patients to contact their health fund for further information regarding rebates. It is a requirement that fees are paid at the time of your consultation.

In some circumstances, yes. If you have a chronic and complex medical condition, such as diabetes, you may be eligible for bulk billed consultations at The Walking Clinic under the Medicare Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) program. This is a care-plan arrangement between The Walking Clinic and your GP, however your GP alone will decide if you are a suitable candidate. If you have any questions regarding EPC care plans, please feel free to contact us for information. Alternatively please contact Medicare on 132 011.

Yes. DVA Gold Card holders will receive a full rebate for podiatry consultations and other treatment related expenses with a valid referral from their GP. Please contact us prior to seeking a referral to receive the necessary information for your GP. For other forms of Veterans’ Affairs Cards (such as Green or White cards) please contact DVA on 133 254 for details regarding podiatry related rebates.

Where possible it is helpful to see the footwear that you wear the majority of the time (i.e. work boots, office footwear etc.). Also bring along any x-rays or other scans that you may have as well as a referral letter if you were sent by another health professional.

A Podiatrist is a registered, qualified health professional who specialises in assessing, diagnosing and treating all disorders of the foot and ankle. This includes anything from foot pain, nail disorders, diabetic foot problems, to name a few. Podiatrists can also effectively treat other conditions such as shin splints (pain in the lower leg) for example. If you are still unsure if we can help you, please feel free to call the clinic on (02) 6249 1758 and one of our helpful staff members will be more than happy to discuss your problem and inform you if we are able to be of assistance.

Yes! All instruments at The Walking Clinic are cleaned, packaged & sterilized in an autoclave for each and every patient in accordance with infection control guidelines from the Australasian Podiatry Council. In addition, all podiatrists are fully qualified, registered and insured.

A qualified podiatrist’s is the best person to see regarding an ingrown toe nail. They are trained in both conservative treatment and surgical removal of the problem. On your first consult they will help reduce the pain and remove the underlying problem, which in most cases is a piece of nail.

There are not to many successful treatment options for fungal nail infections. You can purchase topical treatments ie. nails paints from the chemist, however these treatments require long and repetitive treatments daily or weekly for upto a year with little result in some cases. The other option is a tablet prescribed by your GP, however this tablet can have severe side effects. The latest option is a fungal nail laser. This treatment has no side effects or adverse reactions, requires only 2 or 3 treatments over a 3 month period and requires little after care. This treatment is offered by the podiatrist’s at The Walking Clinic. For further information regarding the laser please contact our staff

Children’s development is very important for the rest of your children’s life and we want to give them the best possible start. A podiatrist can assess the alignment and development of a child and is able to help prevent and reduce foot and leg pain.

Custom foot orthotics are a fully customized innersole which is made around the patients foot and alignment. To make a custom orthotic a full biomechanical and gait analysis is undertaken to establish a prescription for the orthotics and then a 3D scan is taken of the patient’s feet. These are combined by our orthotic laboratory which create a fully customized orthotic catered to the patients complaint and foot. This process gives a completely unique orthotic to suit each individual patient. Where the chemist style orthotics or prefabricated orthotics are either small, medium or large and do not have any customization to the individual’s foot or problem. For further information regarding custom orthotics contact our staff on 6249-1758 and our orthotic laboratories website www.footwork.com.au

Please telephone the clinic on (02) 6249 1758 and talk to our helpful staff. The Walking Clinic is open Monday to Friday 8am to 5.30pm.