When you are suffering from a foot ailment you need medical help, however even if you go to your doctor for treatment, they will be unable to treat your foot problems. This is because normal doctors do not have the necessary training for dealing with foot problems and disease. The type of doctor that you will need to consult is that of a foot doctor or more correctly a podiatrist.

Foot doctors are professionals that specialize in the medical treatment and care of the foot, ankle and the lower leg. Foot doctors are also called by other names like that of foot and ankle surgeons, podiatric surgeons and podiatrists. In order to become foot doctors they need to pass extensive tests like written and oral board examinations. They must also have a state license in order to practice podiatric medicine.

After foot doctors have finished with their educational requirements they can work in private practices, hospitals and clinics. They can also decide to become professors at colleges of podiatric medicine where they in turn teach the proper way of treating foot problems. Then foot doctors also become department chiefs and hospital administrators.

In order to become foot doctors an individual must complete at least 90 semester hours of undergraduate study. They must have an acceptable grade point average and they should have good scores on the Medical College Admission Test. In addition to these they need to have completed a course of study in subjects like biology, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry and physics. Potential students are accepted only after their letters of recommendation have been evaluated. Their various extracurricular activities are also considered.

Once an individual decides to become a foot doctor they must go to a 4 year medical college where they will learn both the practical and theoretical aspects of being a foot doctor. In their first 2 years foot doctors learn subjects like anatomy, chemistry, pathology and pharmacology.

In their third and fourth years of being foot doctors they learn to deal with patients by doing clinical rotations in private practices, hospitals and clinics. In their clinical rotations prospective foot doctors take patient histories, and they perform physical examinations on the patients. They must also interpret the various diagnostic tests that they are given and provide treatment to the various patients under their care.

Once the foot doctors are considered as being able to practice podiatry you can have your foot problems seen to and treatment provided to you by them. These foot doctors are the best individuals to see to the various infections that are hurting your feet and provide the best means to healing them.