// NEWS & SPECIAL INTEREST

Posted on 18 Jan 2008

Autumn conference

Society of Chiropodist and Podiatrists 2007 Conference: Stepping up, growing your podiatry skills.

This is the first year the Podiatry Rheumatic Care Association (PRCA) has held their annual meeting alongside the society of chiropodist and podiatrists conference. This decision encouraged me attend the society of chiropodists and podiatrists (SCP) annual conference for the first time as in the past I have tended towards specialist conferences such as the PRCA, rather than generalist meetings.

Simon Otter (chairman) opened the PRCA conference: Themes in Podiatric Rheumatology 2007. This was followed by four short presentations and discussions. First presentation was lead by Wendy Smith; Arch index in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, is it useful? This presentation reported an investigation of the role of clinical measures in quantifying foot deformity in RA. My impression was that such measures can be descriptive: arch index was greater in rheumatology patients indicating a lower arch profile compared to a normal group. This result did not transmit to gait very well however; arch index predicted 25% arch height in gait and 18% in relaxed standing. A later presentation by Wendy Smith clarified that arch height in standing was more informative of arch characteristic in gait. The second presentation was a pilot randomised controlled trial of podiatry led foot care given by Dr Deborah Turner. Rheumatology patients randomised to podiatry led footcare did not at 12 months have any differences in their outcome measures compared to those who received no specific intervention. This was contrary to the results of the rheumatology patients who, when interviewed reported podiatry input to be helpful. I found this result surprising but as Deborah Turner pointed out, the patients in the trial were recruited with stable disease. Further work is underway to explore the role of podiatry in rheumatology. Both presenters’ gave excellent presentations in important areas; improving clinical tools and justifying the podiatry role in rheumatology.

The third and fourth presentations were presented by the two successful candidates of the Arthritis Research Campaign annual internship programme, with both candidates highlighting the valuable role of the Leeds and Southampton-based internships in helping them develop their research careers. Lindsey Hooper presented a pilot study documenting changes in foot bone marrow density following 12 weeks of anti-TNF therapy in rheumatoid arthritis patients. This study showed there was no change in bone density over the short period of the study. Pioneering bone density measures in the foot this patient group is an important preliminary step; particularly as osteopenic changes are common. I look forward to the results of a longer term study.

Begonya Alcacer-Pitcharch presented a new direction for foot problems in scleroderma. This rare condition poses challenges for podiatrists; I see a number of these patients with significant foot symptoms. The results of the pilot showed that this group of patients’ experienced extremely high foot pressures especially at the first and second met heads and experienced higher levels of pain and disability than healthy controls. I found this information surprising and important to my practice with the hope of understanding new interventions. I hope future studies can provide new insights.

The PRCA and its members have once again presented a broad range of innovative and pertinent research, highlighting the place for podiatry and its contribution to patient care. The theme of rheumatology continued in the first half of the SCP conference with excellent speakers proving useful and relevant information to improve practice.

I would like to thank the PRCA committee for awarding me a conference bursary and the opportunity to attend the SCP conference.

Jill Halstead (Podiatrist)

^{Posted with permission form The Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists.
First printed in ‘Podiatry Now’ December 2007.}