Many patients new to podiatry do present with good supportive footwear, some don’t. Footwear will be investigated at the time of the consultations and the NCP clinician will advise as to why existing shoes are fine or why an alternative is needed. An alternative will involve the development of a footwear prescription in the consultation and involves analysis of the patient’s foot type, occupation, and recreational activity to arrive at footwear that compliments the rest of the podiatric management plan.
The footwear prescription is printed out and given to the patient whom then visits a reputable supplier. The footwear prescription simplifies the process of selecting the correct footwear but also reinforces to the supplier that particular shoes are needed.
For some patients when their pedal deformity prevents the wearing of stock shoes then patients are referred to the ‘Medical Grade Footwear Practitioner’ that consults at NCP on a monthly basis. This practitioner is expert at fitting medical grade shoes for those patients that have very large bunions or other deformities. At times he will even make custom shoes for severe cases.