A brief history of Chiropody
In the UK . The
profession of Chiropody has been established in the UK for approaching
100 years. Some countries like the USA have changed the word traditional
Chiropody and have relaced it with Podiatrist in the last 50 years(1967
) and the term chiropody there is now non existent there. The term
"chiropodist" and the profession of chiropody is British in origin and
the royal family helped initially to make the profession popular with
regular visits to Chiropodists. It has been traditionally used to
describe an individual who treats feet in various ways, and up until the
1950's and earlier, there were chiropodists in both the U.S. and Canada
based on that British standard. Here in the UK now it is changing too;
In 1993 the Society of Chiropodists added the name 'Podiatrists' to its
title reflecting the use of this term throughout the English speaking
world and with the objective of securing protection of this title for
the State Registered profession.
Although it was the Egyptians who
first treated foot conditions and in the bible there are references to
treating feet there also, but it was a British man whose name was David
Low who invented the word back in the 1700's. There is also written
documentation in an Egyptian papyrus of 1500 B.C. outlining a treatment
for corns. Hippocrates advocated a sensible approach to corns (thick,
hard skin which usually forms on the knuckles of the toes). He
recommended a simple operative technique and getting rid of the cause
(probably tight sandals or boots). There are records of the King of
France employing a personal podiatrist, as did Napoleon. In the United
States of America, President Abraham Lincoln suffered greatly with his
feet and chose a Chiropodist named Isachar Zacharie, who not only cared
for the president’s feet, but also was sent by President Lincoln on
confidential missions to confer with leaders of the Confederacy during
the U.S. Civil War.
Some Common Mistakes
The
word Chiro ( Cheir ) the is relative to the hand, wherby, Pody is the
foot hence the word Chiropody. The pronunciation of the word is actually
Cheiropody ( Chiropody )with the K being more strongly pronounced than
the ch sound. The word Chiropody has been wrongly pronounced . I often
say to patients who wrongly mis pronounce this word by comparing it to
Christmas, you wouldn't say Shristmas , now would you!
The
new word for Chiropody today is now Podiatry & Podiatrist less
chance of this word being mis pronounced or spelt incorrectly.
Podiatrist comes from the Greek Word Greek podos, "foot," and iatros, "doctor.