Getting Rid of Stinky Feet & More: Effective Foot Care for Seniors and Diabetics

IN this episode we are featuring Dr. Gregory Cardinal, a board-certified podiatrist with over 12 years of experience and a practice specializing in in-home care for the elderly in the DC metro area. Dr. Cardinal will be sharing invaluable insights on addressing common foot problems such as fungal infections, calluses, bunions, and nerve pain, and will emphasize the importance of foot health, particularly for seniors.

We'll dive into practical treatments like Epsom salt soaks and proper footwear, explore the significance of monitoring moles for skin cancer, and discuss the benefits of custom orthotics. Dr. Cardinal will also shed light on his unique direct pay practice model and the convenience of home visits, making foot care more accessible for older adults with mobility issues. Don’t miss this episode filled with essential foot care tips to ensure your feet remain healthy, comfortable, and pain-free! Let's jump right in.

 Website: Podiatristinmotion.com

 SeniorLivingGuide.com Podcast sponsored by TransMed Care Long Distance Medical Transportation

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Transcript

Darleen Mahoney [00:00:02]:

And we are super excited today to be joined by Doctor Gregory Cardinal on the seniorlivingguide.com podcast. He is a DPM, an MS and an FacPm, and we'll find out what all that means. He is a board certified podiatrist providing house calls throughout the DC metro area, including Northern Virginia and Maryland for over eight years. He has a b's at the University of Minnesota, a doctor of podiatric. Podiatric medicine. Scroll College of Podiatric Medicine, MS in healthcare admin and Management, Rosalind Franklin University of Med and Science. And he is a board certified american board of Podiatric medicine. For some reason, I was struggling with podiatric today.

Darleen Mahoney [00:00:53]:

Thank you for enjoying.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:00:57]:

Yeah, no problem. It's. Podiatric is probably the nobody.

Darleen Mahoney [00:01:02]:

I stand corrected.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:01:04]:

That's all right. That's all right. I had trouble in the beginning, too.

Darleen Mahoney [00:01:07]:

So you learn something new every day and that is definitely a new one for me. So, yes. So say it one more time. Podiatric.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:01:17]:

Podiatric podiatric podiatric medicine.

Darleen Mahoney [00:01:22]:

Doctor of podiatric medicine. Okay. Yes. Because almost the other way sounds more like almost children's medicine the way I'm saying it, for sure.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:01:37]:

But I just know what you're talking about.

Darleen Mahoney [00:01:39]:

Exactly. Exactly. So I'm super excited because we're going to talk about something today that is absolutely a very important part of the body and it can be a game changer. If you have issues with it, it can absolutely change your quality of life. And it's the feet, which is what you basically specialize in.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:01:59]:

Right, right. Yeah. So I've been podiatrist for twelve years now or so and seen a lot of feet over the years, you know, both in a hospital setting or hospital setting, clinic setting. And now with the house call practice. So different venues and different. Different demographics for sure, with these three different settings. And so I've seen quite a bit from a lot of surgical cases to right now, mostly medical podiatry, right in home.

Darleen Mahoney [00:02:37]:

I love the fact that you do the in home. That's one reason why I wanted to talk to you, because I know that for our demographic that listens to our podcast, they're either seniors or they're caregivers of seniors. And sometimes getting seniors out, especially if they have feet problems, can be a burden or it can be really difficult to do. And then also it can be really hard on those seniors that are trying to make those mobile moves, getting in and out of cars and things like that to go see a doctor. So tell us a little bit about some of the just general problems that maybe people don't take notice or they put off, or maybe they just don't think it's important because it is something on the foot. But the reality is, is it's still super important. Feet are what gets you around. I mean, if you don't have your feet, you know, you're utilizing another form.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:03:28]:

Right, right. Yeah. So unfortunately, the feet are taken for granted a lot. People don't really seek out a podiatrist until there's some kind of pain or problem or something they notice on their foot. And so it's good to start working on your feet in different ways, keeping monitoring them and doing stretches and things like that for your feet, actually, from a young age. But a lot of, in the older population that I see, a lot of it is since they're mostly the mds and whatnot, or the nurse practitioners coming to see them are really focused on bigger kind of health issues and they're not really concentrating on the feet too much. And they don't really notice them until a caregiver might be giving them a bath and they notice that their toenails are too long or too thick or they're discolored or there's a wound on their foot which can be especially problematic in the diabetic population.

Darleen Mahoney [00:04:25]:

Oh, yeah, for sure.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:04:26]:

And so. But I see a lot of overgrown toenails, you know, fungal toenails and things like that. And it's almost kind of like when you go to the dentist every six months to get your teeth cleaned or once a year or how often you do it, you know, you want to. If. If an older person can't reach down there and clip their own toenails or, or whatnot. And I know a lot of home health agency personnel aren't allowed to clip their nails, especially if they're diabetic, just in case they can cause a wound or they don't really know what they're doing, especially with thickened toenails or ones that have not been cut in a while. It's good to get a podiatrist in there and really do an exam of the feet, see if everything's looking okay. You know, checking the pulses, checking the skin condition, the nail condition that we test for feeling, you know, especially in the diabetic population, if they're out of.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:05:27]:

If their diabetes isn't being managed quite well or if they have peripheral neuropathy, they tend to lose the feeling in the feet, can be diminished. It's called peripheral neuropathy, the same thing kind of happened in the fingers and the hands because it's the periphery of the body. But so, yeah, so I, you know, I do a full exam of the feet and then the nails. I usually trim them and file them down. I clean the feet and I deeply moisturize them. Callus care is another part of what I do. Cause calluses, they can get rock hard if they're not being maintained. And sometimes if people are still walking on them, a wound can occur underneath the callus and can eventually turn into what's called an ulcer, which is a wound usually on the bottom of the foot.

Darleen Mahoney [00:06:18]:

Mmm.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:06:19]:

That can be very problematic, again, especially in the diabetic population.

Darleen Mahoney [00:06:24]:

Right. What causes the thickening of the toenails? Because I have noticed that a lot of seniors, that is something that occurs. Is there something you can do to avoid that, or is that something that is hereditary?

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:06:37]:

Well, there might be somewhat of a hereditary component, but mostly it's usually due to a lot of people think right off the bat that if they have a thickened, discolored, funny looking toenail, that it's automatically toenail fungus. And a lot of times it is. And that can be pretty well diagnosed clinically. But, you know, the 100% go to, or the gold standard would be to take a clipping of the nail and send it off to a pathologist that can, you know, id that 100% as some type of fungus. And there's all sorts of fungus out there that it could be. To throw out a medical term, it's trichophyton rubrum is usually the species of fungus. The medical term for toenail fungus is onychomycosis. But sometimes it's not fungus at all.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:07:26]:

Sometimes it's just a thickened toenail. Toenails tend to change as we get older, especially in more advanced years. And it can be just like, I see a lot in runners or people that walk a lot. There's a thing called runner's toe, happens on the second toe, where all those movements in your shoes over time disrupts the matrix or the. Where the nail root is or where the nail grows from. And that can cause a thickened, discolored toenail. The toenail could fall off. Sometimes there's blood underneath the nail and it gets into the nail plate and changes it different colors, usually darkens it.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:08:05]:

And, you know, so it's not fungus. And so, you know, I always tell people, you know, before you start spending a lot of money on fungal treatments, especially laser, you know, which really isn't covered by insurance or anything like that, because a lot of this is cosmetic. Can be cosmetic. You know, you want to make sure that if you're, first of all, get a podiatrist out there to take a look at it and then, you know, to, if they're suspect for something else, maybe did a nail clipping for a, to send off to a pathologist. But like I said, it can, it can really present as many different things. Not always fungus.

Darleen Mahoney [00:08:47]:

Yeah. So is there a natural way to, if you think you have fungus that you can utilize or would you see, you know, a doctor or would you just try something over the counter before.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:08:59]:

Making that call so you can. What? I, so I always. So Epsom salts, they've been around for ages and there's a good reason because they're very therapeutic for the skin. The magnesium in the salt is very good for the skin. And also if you do a foot soak in Epsom salts for like 15 minutes or so, 1520 minutes, it really cleans out all the little nooks and crannies between the nail and the nail, fold underneath the nail. A lot of times there's debris under there. Sometimes it's just like sock debris that gets build up, especially with people with, when they start to think that they're having an ingrown toenail, a little pinch there a lot of the times in the big toe, but it doesn't have to be in the big toe. A lot of times it's just dirt, dust, sock debris, or the nails kind of thickened, curled under and an Epson salt soak maybe a couple times a day for a few days.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:09:53]:

Give that a shot first. And that can sometimes alleviate the symptoms of. But especially for ingrown toenails, you don't want to start kind of digging out the nail yourself. People get themselves in quite a bit of trouble that way. Get infections, and the nail tends to sometimes dive deeper. But at home, other things you can try, you know, it's just really EPsom salt soaks is the, is really the best thing you can really, you know, some people swear by like tea tree oil, that type of thing. But I think Epsom salt soaks for nail fungus, getting the nails soft. You can do some filing on the top of your nail if it's really thick after Epsom salt soak and see how that does.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:10:42]:

But, you know, if the nails are past a point where they're so long and so thick, you're not going to get them cut with a regular nail clipper and some of the other heavy duty nail clippers you can find online are a little bit dangerous because they're pointy, they're super sharp and cause a lot of damage. So I would, yeah, I would maybe go see a podiatrist before. If you're encountering that with your feet.

Darleen Mahoney [00:11:03]:

Yeah, absolutely. And I will tell you, I have a friend that had an ingrown toenail and she tried to dig it out herself and it got significantly worse. So that was a lesson learned from long time ago. So you're right on that. So another thing about the feet is clearly people make the joke about having stinky feet. Is that something that is a problem or do some people just have stinky feet or what's the deal with that?

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:11:30]:

Yeah, a lot of people, you know, it's a common thing, you know, and a lot of it's common sense. Right. You know, for the, I mean, the hyperhidrosis or bromohydrosis is of the medical terms for it, but it's caused by bacteria, normal skin flora. You know, it's, it all depends on like, you know, I encounter people that have like one or pair of shoes or maybe just two, or they don't change their socks that often, or they're not wearing cotton or wool socks. You know, you want to wear something breathable, but, you know, if your, if your feet are enclosed and some thick socks or shoes all day long, you know, it's just a breeding ground for fungus or that kind of build up of bacteria, sweaty feet. And, you know, the common sense is, you know, I've got like ten or twelve pairs of shoes and I always get home and I change out, I take off my street shoes and I go into a pair of crocs, you know, they're airy, they're light, and, you know, it's podiatrist. I can't recommend anyone go barefoot, but I know there's a huge barefoot population out there and it's really hard to change their mind, but, yeah, really, because I see a lot of people even just like, oh, my feet hurt. You know, I get home and I was like.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:12:49]:

And walking around and I watch them walk and I hear them walk and it's just like they're stomping like an elephant in the room. It's like, well, you're really hard on your feet. You gotta, you know, just go into a pair of slip ons or something. Yeah, but as far as like the sweaty feet, you know, it just, you can get that, the foot powder. Just take off your shoes, put them in the sun, you know, open them up a little bit, you know, wear common sense socks, like cotton or wool socks, and throw out the old shoes and socks. You know, some people just have them for years and it's, there's no point, you know. Really?

Darleen Mahoney [00:13:22]:

Yeah. Well, if you think about it, it's like clothes. You wouldn't keep putting on the same outfit every day without doing some form of. Well, typically, you'd just wash it. But clearly, shoes may not be like throwing the laundry, but to get to cleaning out, otherwise, you're just putting your foot into something that is dirty.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:13:42]:

Right, right. And so, and, you know, it's some of the older population, you know, they, they don't really walk much. Some people that I encounter, they're in a wheelchair. They just walk around the house with some aid through, you know, a walker and whatnot. And they don't, they don't really have to change their shoes that much, you know, and so they're going in the same shoe every day. Hopefully they're in shoes, not, not barefoot. And, you know, so I can understand wearing the same shoes in that regard. But like I said, a lot of people really don't think about the feet until they pipe up and say something, you know, my foot hurts or boy, mister so and or misses so and so.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:14:22]:

Your feet don't smell the greatest. And, you know, again, Epsom salt soaks are a wonder. Just dump your feet in there, you know, for a few minutes and it can, you know, that Epsom salts acts as an astringent and reduced sweating and may kill the bacteria a bit. So get rid of those stinky feet. Yeah. With the epsom salt soaks, you always kind of want to use warm water and you don't, you only want to use about a tablespoon of the salt. It's not an epsom salt foot bath, which calls for, like, a cup of epsom salts. And so it's about a gallon of warm water to a tablespoon of epsom salts.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:14:59]:

Perfect. So it could be 15 or 20 minutes. And you want to dry, you want to wash the salt off after you're done with some water and dry your feet real well, especially in between the toes. And you want to provide some caution. If it's a person that's diabetic, maybe uncontrolled, you really want to watch that. You definitely don't want to soak them too long or not dry their feet. So then you want to moisturize your feet afterwards.

Darleen Mahoney [00:15:25]:

Yeah. That's a super affordable solution to several problems we've just talked about. Not a lot of epsom salt, and it's not expensive to buy. So there you go. Right, right, exactly. So I know that one thing that you definitely get, and we talked about this, are the calluses. So what about calluses that for older people, diabetic and non diabetic, that can, that might need to be treated? What would be a good sign of that?

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:15:56]:

So for calluses, you know, they usually appear on the bottom of the foot. If they're on the top of your toes, those are called corns. The medical term is basically hyperkeratosis, which is just a buildup of skin, usually on pressure points of the foot. So if people have hammer toes on the top of the foot to reach you occurring on the top of those hammer toes, they're rubbing against something, usually the top of the shoe, if they're on the bottom. You know, as we get older, we kind of tend to lose the fat pad that's protecting our metatarsal heads on the bottom of our feet. And that dissipates or moves a little bit north towards the toes. And so it exposes the metatarsal heads. And so when you're walking and maybe you're shuffling when you're walking, that friction is causing the, you know, the skin is starting to build up there to protect the, those bony parts.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:16:48]:

And, you know, again, an Epsom salt soap can help soften that, you know, moisturize your feet. A good moisturizer, I always use something with a, with an ingredient called urea. Urea, usually about 10% used to be by prescription, but now you can find it over the counter.

Darleen Mahoney [00:17:05]:

Nice.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:17:06]:

And that's a very good moisturizer. I'd stay away from petroleum products, especially vaseline, kind of more or less sits on your skin. It doesn't really provide enough deep moisturization that you're looking for, especially with calluses. Yeah. And then, you know, I wouldn't try. I mean, you can use a pumice stone and, you know, when you're in the shower and kind of rub that over the callus and see if that will kind of at least get the hard part off, you know, but if you're diabetic and you got some calluses there, you'd really want to see a podiatrist to kind of pare that down. And because calluses, especially in people that don't have very good feeling in their feet anymore, they can, you know, like I was speaking about before, they can develop a wound underneath their foot, underneath the callus, and it's called an ulcer. And that's, that's another problem and a half for people with diabetes or right diminished feeling in their feet.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:18:05]:

So.

Darleen Mahoney [00:18:06]:

And one thing that I had read, like, years ago, and it's not something that I ever thought about, is getting skin cancer, like, underneath your, your fingernails. Do you, is that something that's happening on the feet? Do you find cancerous issues on people's feet?

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:18:25]:

So you can. Yeah. So skin cancer can present in many ways on the feet, especially for, like, moles. I always want to keep track of moles on your body. And as far as pertaining to the feet, you want to keep track of them. Sometimes people take pictures of them. If you want to notice, for any irregular borders and color changes in that mole, if it's turning kind of a bluish color, irregular borders, if it's getting maybe darker or larger, you know, you want to, you want to keep track of that. You want, you know, it's okay to talk to the dermatologist or the podiatrist and say, hey, you know, concerned about this, because it doesn't hurt to biopsy these types of things, you know? And, you know, as far as the nail, it can present, melanoma can present underneath the, in the nail.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:19:19]:

We can grow out from that, underneath the nail via the matrix or the nail root. And it presents as kind of like this, this black streak. And it's kind of sinister looking. Usually only presents on, you know, one nail at a time, but it can present on more. But if you see something suspicious, sinister looking like that. But, you know, it's, especially in people of color, there can be pigmented streaks, streaks in your nail. So it's not always that it has to look. It usually has a wider base kind of at the cuticle, and then kind of goes up into a more narrow portion along the length of the nail.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:20:06]:

And if it's dark, like black, especially in the skin part right behind the cuticle, you should probably get that taken a look at, maybe a biopsy or have someone lay some eyes on there and, but it can present there, and that can be a lifesaver if, just to get a biopsied. And if it's not, then now, you know.

Darleen Mahoney [00:20:26]:

Yeah, I don't think people think about cancer in the foot. I mean, the thing is, is people have to think anywhere there's skin. It could, you could have cancer at the end of the day, so, and not always necessarily exposed skin. So I know that some people think, well, you know, I wasn't out in the sun, and this part of my body was really never exposed. I will tell you, you can still get cancer in those areas. I don't know how, but you. You absolutely can. If you feel like the sun has never seen the light of day, it can still present with cancer.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:20:57]:

It definitely can.

Darleen Mahoney [00:20:58]:

Yeah. So. So I know there's one thing that when I think of feet, that a lot of, I feel like kind of seniors talk about is plantar fasciitis. Is that what it's called, plantar fasciitis?

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:21:14]:

Yep.

Darleen Mahoney [00:21:14]:

Fasciitis. Yes. Okay, so what is that? I've heard it, but I don't know what it is.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:21:19]:

That's just a fancy term. Anything with itis in the medical world usually is inflammation of some part. Usually, you know, and here it's a. It's an inflammation of what's underneath your foot is called the plantar fascia. And it's pretty deep. It's close to the bone, so it's beneath, like, obviously, the skin and the soft tissue and muscle, and it's just a fibrous band originates on your calcaneus or your heel bone and inserts on your forefoot. And there's three bands, usually the medial, the central, and the lateral band. And it's almost always, like, the medial band or the origination at the calcaneus or the heel bone that people usually present.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:22:08]:

They wake up in the morning, they step down, and they feel like someone just, you know, took a knife and poked their foot right in the heel. And usually tends to get better with, you know, after walking around a little bit. Sometimes can throb or feel like it's bruised. And that's. That's pretty much what it is. And so that's an inflammation of that origin of the plantar fascia. And so, you know, that happens a lot in people that overdo things or they're running in new shoes or they went too far on a walk or they're going barefoot and things like that. It can really, there's many ways it can occur, and some people don't really know why it occurred, but there's an inflammation there, and it usually has to do with a lot of lack of stretching.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:22:59]:

Like, you're really kind of putting some strain on that fascial band underneath your foot. And so you want to try and, you know, good thing to do is just go ask Mister Google, you know, for foot and ankle stretches, really easy things, and start doing that. And I. Even if your foot doesn't hurt, one way you can stave off the plantar fasciitis from happening is just remain pliable. I mean, just like Tom Brady's been able to play football or did play football for a long time because he was pliable, he was stretched out. And get older, we're not as flexible as we were when we were younger. And even though plantar fasciitis can happen when we're younger, but, you know, the stretching is the first thing followed, you know, icing as well. You just get like a, you know, there's all sorts of things you can spend a lot of money on fancy contraptions, but just, just get a water bottle, freeze it, put it down the ground, roll your foot over it, and then massage that cold therapy.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:24:01]:

And with, like, a tennis ball or I like to use a baseball thing, you can, you can kind of just because it, like I said, that plantar fascial band is deep, and I, the tissue. So you want to ice the foot and push it in. The icing effect with the ball massage. Yeah. Do the stretches and obviously rest. You know, it's hard to say that to people that are very active, but, you know, if you're not, if you're going to keep on doing what you're going to do, it's not going to, you know, your body's telling you something that, hey, we got to take it easy here for a minute.

Darleen Mahoney [00:24:32]:

Is that related to anything that I know? This has happened to me where I'll walk and I get, like, a, of nerve pain through, like, my toe, and I'll have it for a while and then it kind of goes away. What is that?

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:24:45]:

Well, usually nerve pain presents as, like, burning, tingling, numbness, kind of electrical sensation that, and so, yeah, that can be like a tweaked nerve in a way. And so, I mean, there's a lot of neurovascular structures in the foot, and, you know, it's, it's amazing that we don't, I mean, the foot is an amazing, an amazing part of the anatomy. And most people don't realize, like, what's going on down there, what's in your foot, and, you know, until something's happening.

Darleen Mahoney [00:25:16]:

But, you know, until you break it, sprain it.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:25:20]:

Right.

Darleen Mahoney [00:25:21]:

And then you really appreciate that little foot down there.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:25:24]:

Yeah. And, you know, if you can't walk, you have trouble walking. It's, it's, uh, it's hard to deal with.

Darleen Mahoney [00:25:30]:

Yeah, for sure.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:25:32]:

So I was going to say another thing about plantar fasciitis. You know, you want to get, especially if you're a walker or runner, you want to get in some, you know, they make shoes so great these days, athletic shoes. I mean, they're just so well built and, you know, you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on shoes. I always tell people you want because a lot of people buy these things online and, you know, if you can send them back, great. But, you know, I say go, you know, towards the end of the day, after youre been walking around a bit, your foot's a little bit swollen from walking and go shoe shopping, you know, go with what feels the best. You know, don't go by what someone told you. It's the best shoe. Yeah, you know, but, you know, but.

Darleen Mahoney [00:26:12]:

Yeah, for even, it's so funny because even for me, I know people that love certain brands that have that high arch and I cannot wear them. They cause me so much pain. They're so uncomfortable.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:26:25]:

Right.

Darleen Mahoney [00:26:26]:

So I don't know why. I guess it's because I don't have a high arch.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:26:30]:

Yeah, I, you know, it's, uh, it, it's all, you know, like, you have to go really with what's comfortable. I, you know, if you've got, so I've got flat feet, you know, and I, I don't really wear orthotics. I wear pretty good shoes. I don't wear flat shoes because that would hurt my arch after a while because it's just, there's no support there. But I wear things like asics and sometimes I put inserts in my shoes, but I don't have custom orthodox in my shoes. But you want some sort of support in your arch. And a lot of that's already built into some of these shoes. Otherwise you can get shoe inserts, but a lot of the things that you can buy at the drugstore, they're kind of flexible.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:27:14]:

A good insert is going to have what's called a functional part where it's a more rigid, you can't bend it usually in the instep of the foot supporting your arch. And it doesn't have to be like I said, like you said, you know, like, ouch, it's too supportive in my archer, it's, it just needs to be, you know, it just has to feel right. And what it's doing is limiting sometimes the overpronation that we have. That's kind of like when we're too many forces are going up kind of on the inner part of our foot. That happens a lot in flat footed people. Or if you're a high arched person, we're over supinating. So we're on the lateral, the outside of the foot, and, you know, a good insert will kind of align those. And so you're walking more of an erectus position.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:28:04]:

Control your rear foot and support your medial and lateral arches. And the gold standard for that is to get a custom orthotic, which is a, you know, prescription orthotic for your, for your foot. Either we take molds of your feet or we take pictures of your feet and send it off to a lab and they make orthotics for your feet only. But like I said, some people can buy with a really just a good shoe.

Darleen Mahoney [00:28:29]:

Yeah. So I do have another question. So I know that my grandmother would occasionally say that she has a bunion. What is a bunion?

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:28:39]:

Yeah, so a bunions, it's basically a dislocation of your big toe on your first metatarsal, the big toe out of your, the long bone in your foot, and then a lot of that, you know, so a lot of foot problems, the biomechanics of the foot, you know, how we walk over pronators, over supinators, flat footed, high arch people, hammertoes, bunions, that kind of thing. That's, it's pretty much genetic. You know, you got your mom and dad gave you your foot type or your grandma and grandpa did. Yeah.

Darleen Mahoney [00:29:12]:

Now, I'm afraid, but thank you.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:29:14]:

Yeah. Right. And it's not always the same on each foot, you know, so 2ft one body, but not the same together. And so, you know, so bunions, really, if they're not hurting you, you know, just get in a good orthotic or a good shoe, you know, but if they're starting to hurt you, the only way to really correct them is to have them surgically straightened out, you know, especially if they're causing a lot of pain. Yeah. And, but, you know, you can, if it's, if you, if you know that you're going to be heading for a bunion because mom and dad or grandma and grandpa, you know, you kind of want to, you can do that, help sort of slow down the process by good shoes or doing some stretching, you know, really taking care of your feet. Same with hammer toes. They, everything, all these things tend to progress through life and they can get really bad.

Darleen Mahoney [00:30:12]:

Aging is not fun.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:30:15]:

Yeah. Yeah. Your feet are everything.

Darleen Mahoney [00:30:19]:

It does. Yes. It's eating healthy, working out, you know, all these different things as you age is like required versus when you're younger, where you can just kind of wing it and you're still good to go. So all these different things that you have to pay attention to when you're older and the feet are so important and they really are. I don't think people think about them as often as they should unless something actually starts to happen. So. Yeah, for sure. So I love the fact that, you know, and I mentioned this at the top of the show, that you go into homes and so they don't have to go into the doctor's office.

Darleen Mahoney [00:30:56]:

So I know that, you know, we have listeners that are all over the country and some of them may not have that service in their backyard where they can utilize that. But if you do, what is the benefit of having someone besides like, the obvious, I kind of think to having someone come into your home and look at your feet there?

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:31:16]:

Well, you know, so I found that it's so I, you know, I provide service in basically the DC metro area. And so there's a lot of people that live here, a lot of traffic, a lot of, I mean, there's a lot of podiatrists here as well. But, you know, and I see a lot of the older population and a lot of these folks just can't get out or they don't want to deal with it or the loved ones don't want to pay for the transportation of the time sitting in the office and whatnot. And so it's just, it's almost like a convenience for them. And so, you know, and I a big, I guess the main number one reason besides the convenience is, you know, I take my time with the patients. It's not, unfortunately, medicine these days, it's all about volume. So a lot of people go to the doctor's office and they got to get out of there in five or ten minutes, you know, the doctor or the nurse practitioners, the physical therapy physician's assistant has to be whisked away to the next room. You know, they see so many patients a day to keep the lights on and whatnot.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:32:19]:

So I go and I usually spend anywhere from half an hour to an hour with some people, especially new patients. You know, I talk to them, I take my time and I, you know, I try and fulfill what they're paying me to do instead of just kind of, you know, just kind of like sitting at the computer typing in what they're telling me and doing a quick look and then having the medical assistant do all the work sometimes. And so, you know, I think there's a, there's a big benefit in that. And, like, and people just call me whenever they basically, when they want, you know. So with my practice. I'm a, I'm a direct pay doctor or out of network. So and so people, they're paying for the service, but they're, they're really paying for what they get. There's no insurance, sort of like regulation or at least telling you what you can and can't have done or what they're going to pay for and things like that, so.

Darleen Mahoney [00:33:25]:

Right. Well, you know, we get our, everybody gets food delivered now. I mean, your food from restaurants are delivered, your food from the grocery store is delivered. And it just seems like it's kind of a no brainer if you have that as an option. And I love the fact that you mentioned that one of the things that you provide is them being able to contact you directly. That happens in no medical field. I mean, you talk to the receptionist or your doctor's nurse and it may be 24 hours before that person gets back with you. You don't actually even talk to the doctor.

Darleen Mahoney [00:34:01]:

So that really is a huge bonus.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:34:05]:

Yeah. So when people call for an appointment or they email me, I always have to, I mean, I have to call them just because I want to get to know them. And then, you know, also to see if a house call would be, you know, will work for that. You know, if someone's requesting surgery, I always refer them to, you know, one of my podiatric surgeon people that I know or whatnot. Or if it's something that really can't, is emergent, that can't. A house call really wouldn't, you know, there's. Because I'm a bit limited on certain things that I can and can't do, and so I always have to screen to see if that's. But most of the time for what people call about, it's all taken care of.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:34:46]:

But, yeah, I get to, you know, they talk to the doctor, they don't talk to the receptionist, just me. So.

Darleen Mahoney [00:34:52]:

Yeah. And I've been to DC. That traffic is a booger.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:34:57]:

Yeah. Right. Yeah. So you have to sit in traffic, then you have to sit in the waiting room and then you, for a five minute appointment or ten, you know, and it's just like, oh, brother. So.

Darleen Mahoney [00:35:07]:

Exactly. Well, before we sign off, is there anything that we missed talking about today that you wanted to definitely share? And then also please share your website URL so that anyone that wants to kind of look at your website, get information, especially if they live in the area and would like to utilize you what that is.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:35:24]:

Sure. Yeah. I mean, I would just stress to people, you know, don't, don't neglect your feet. You know, no matter at what age you want to, you know, look for the stretching regimens. Online for foot and ankle trial is epsom salt. Stokes. You know, if you've got, you know, some suspect moles or things that you're wondering about on your nails or if it's fungus or whatnot, you always, you know, it doesn't hurt to just get them checked out. A lot of people don't know what I mean, a lot of people do know what a podiatrist is, but some people really just don't know.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:36:01]:

There's an actual foot doctor that specializes in that, so I just. Don't neglect your feet.

Darleen Mahoney [00:36:08]:

Don't neglect your feet. That's the takeaway from today. Do not neglect your feet. They are so important. And I do think that a lot of people think it's maybe going to go away or they just don't pay attention until you're in a bad position. So for sure. And Epsom salt, that's the other one. Big takeaway.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:36:27]:

Yeah. Great. Get some good shoes. Change your shoes and socks out daily. You know, just common sense things and your feet will take you a long way. And, you know, my website's just podiatristinmotion.com.

Darleen Mahoney [00:36:41]:

Okay. That's easy to remember. Podiatristemotion.com dot. And that link will also be available in the copy of all of the podcasts. So no matter where you're listening, Spotify, Apple, what have you. That link will be in the content portion, in the description of the podcast, so you can click directly there. Thank you so much for joining us today. We have.

Darleen Mahoney [00:37:01]:

I have absolutely loved it. I never realized I was going to enjoy talking feet, but I absolutely do. There was so much I actually really learned today. So I appreciate that.

Dr. Gregory Cardinal [00:37:11]:

Great. Yeah, no, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. This is great. Feet are great. I mean, they really are.

Darleen Mahoney [00:37:18]:

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for joining us. We do appreciate you. And if you enjoyed this podcast and you are listening, please feel free to check out a lot of different podcasts that we have done in the past. We've been doing it for four years. Anywhere you enjoy or listen to music or podcasts, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, good pods. We are now available on babyboomer.org dot. Thank you.

Darleen Mahoney [00:37:42]:

Thank you for listening.