Chiropody Vs Podiatry, what is the difference?

Basically, nothing.

Many people think that chiropodists are nail cutters and podiatrists are foot specialists. But both titles are fully interchangeable.

Podiatry is simply an update on the title chiropody, much like chemist shops are now pharmacies.

Both titles are based on Greek words.

Greek English

Chiro- = Hand

Pod (y) = Foot

-iatry = Treatment

Therefore

Chiropody = Hand-foot

Podiatry = Foot-treatment

As you can see the translation of the title chiropody makes little sense, the word was first used in France around 130 years ago.

The translation for podiatry makes much more sense, it came into use around 108 years ago, just about every country in the world, except for the UK, started to use this title from 1914.

As a profession we have been trying to change our title over to Podiatry/podiatrist for many, many decades.

Why is it taking so long?

A number of reasons, for one, our titles were not protected, meaning that anyone, with no training or qualifications of any kind could call themselves a chiropodist or podiatrist and treat people.

Thankfully this changed in 2003 when our titles became protected by law, meaning that only university trained practitioners could use the two titles.

Chiropody/Podiatry timeline

• 1886. Chiropody first used in France then other countries

• 1914. Podiatry first used, adopted as professional title by majority of countries, except the UK

• 1993. All university graduates training as chiropodists now obtain BSc in podiatry

• 2003. Closure and legal protection of titles chiropodist and podiatrist

If you are unsure as to whether or not your foot care provider is fully qualified, then the best way to check is on the hcpc website.

The hcpc is a government body that oversees a number of health care professions including podiatrists, physiotherapists, speech therapists etc.

Pronunciation.

Hands up all those who pronounce chiropody as shur-opo-dee! you are not alone, it is probably mispronounced by roughly 80% of the UK population.

• Chiropody = Kye-roh-poh-dee pronounced with a hard ch- as in choir, chemist and chiropractor etc

• Podiatry = Poh-dye-ah-tree

Hook Podiatry, Monmouth 01600 713111 www.monmouthpodiatry.co.uk