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Podiatrist

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More and more people are getting active these days. Every day, we're out playing tennis or cycling to work. We hardly ever stop to think how much our active lifestyle depends on having healthy feet.

We willingly blow our paycheck on a pair of jogging runners, but few of us realize that these shoes are designed to protect a highly complex structure with 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 muscles.

Dr. David Sabet knows. He's seen his share of sports-related foot injuries. Sabet is a podiatrist. He has his own private practice. "Here, everybody's into athletics. I see lots of joggers, soccer players and football players. Some of the more common injuries are heel pain and sprained ankles."

Although podiatry doesn't have the glamour and prestige of surgery and certain other medical professions, Sabet loves his work. "The field of podiatry is broad enough that you don't have to specialize. I do a lot of sports medicine, but I don't have to specialize in it."

Another advantage is the mix of office work and surgery. On any given day, Sabet might do everything from prescribing drugs for an infected toenail to performing surgery to removing a painful bunion.

"I've always said I could never be a surgeon on call 24 hours a day, or a dermatologist always working in the office -- in podiatry, you get the best of both worlds."

Like many podiatrists, Dr. Darryl Gurevitch spends a big chunk of his time treating seniors. He sees patients in his office. He also visits nursing homes and makes the occasional house call to patients who aren't mobile.

Gurevitch always knew he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and pursue a medical career. After obtaining a science degree, he enrolled in the California College of Podiatric Medicine in San Francisco.

He now runs a group practice with three other podiatrists, including his brother. "The joke in our family is that I do the left foot and my brother does the right."

But he has one problem. "People don't always understand how important foot care is. For example, they may ask why an elderly person needs me to cut their toenails. But someone who can't bend down or see too well has a real medical need."

He adds that diabetic foot care actually saves the health-care system dollars, since early treatment of diabetic ulcers can prevent costly surgery and amputations.

Gurevitch has no other complaints. "I love my work. It's a great thing to be able to help people." Unlike other medical specialties, podiatrists can often relieve a patient's pain on the first visit, and that's "very gratifying."

Dr. Ellen Cohen-Sobel likes helping people, too. Cohen-Sobel is an associate professor at a college of podiatry. She divides her time between treating patients and teaching students. The college regularly holds clinics, where Cohen-Sobel provides relief for patients suffering from anything from club foot to arthritis.

"I think the elderly really need help," she says. "It's very satisfying to see them mobile and in good health -- often, what we do can actually help them live longer."

Cohen-Sobel says her position at the college has given her the opportunity to research and write about podiatry-related issues. She recently completed a study examining how effective foot insoles are in the workplace. She has collaborated on several projects with her colleagues at the college. Two of the projects have won major awards.

Cohen-Sobel is also a contributing editor to Podiatry Today magazine. She's in the top 10 percent of the most published authors on podiatric issues in the U.S. In one issue of Podiatry Today, she wrote about helping children with genetic foot disorders.

"It's a topic I became interested in while researching my doctoral dissertation on children with inherited birth defects," she says.

For Cohen-Sobel, the worst part of her job is when she can't help someone. "Sometimes people have problems that just don't get better, such as diabetic ulcers that are hard to heal. Patients feel better and start walking again, and then the ulcers come back. It can get to be an endless cycle."

Dr. Nancy O'Neil admits that burnout can be a real problem for podiatrists. "Some days, it seems you just give and give and give," she says.

A podiatrist and a mother of three, O'Neil works half-days at a clinic so that she can spend time with her growing family. However, early in her career, she put in long hours and often traveled to rural areas to help people who normally wouldn't have access to a podiatrist.

Nowadays, the biggest challenge for O'Neil is trying to balance home and work commitments. "I feel guilty over not being able to spend more time at the clinic."