Telehealth Podiatry Consultations for Your Child during Covid-19
You may think that social distancing and current restrictions associated with Covid-19 means your child is unable to commence or continue treatment with a podiatrist. However, in this ever adapting climate we have introduced Telehealth, enabling an online consultation with our Children’s Podiatrist Antoni Caserta, where your child can be assessed and managed in a similar way to a face to face clinic appointment.
Consultations typically start in the same manner as a clinic consultation whereby a discussion with you and your child will determine what the concern/problem is, convey any relevant medical history, followed by a thorough assessment to formulate a management plan.
What Can We Assess During Your Child’s Telehealth Consultation?
- Gait/walking patterns
- Joint motion/restrictions: specialised tests eg. The Beighton Scale used to assess joint mobility.
- Muscle testing: Functional tests including variations of squatting, jumping or hopping
- Balance testing: specific body movement to test balance and proprioception
- Co-ordination: again specific body movements, may be sports specific such as dribbling a ball
- Assessment of Milestone movement patterns: may incorporate many of the above tests to determine any delays/issues
- Footwear
- Orthotics
What Treatments Can We Conduct During Telehealth Consultations?
- Muscle Strengthening Exercises: to address muscle imbalances that may be for sports specific or for gait related issues
- Gait Retraining: specific strategies to address gait concerns such as toe walking and in-toeing
- Balance and Muscle Rehabilitation: specific exercises to reduce recurrence of injury or improve specific muscle activation
- Demonstration and Instruction on taping techniques
- Fitting and sizing of orthotics
- Advice Regarding Referral To Other Specialists
What Paediatric Conditions Do We Manage Using Telehealth Consultations?
- Sever’s Disease
- Osgood Schlatter
- Gait Concerns/Abnormalities eg. Toe Walking, in-toeing and limping
- Sporting Injuries
- Foot Pain
- Ankle Pain
- Flat Feet
Our highly experienced Children’s Podiatrist, Antoni Caserta is one of only a small group of true Paediatric Podiatrists in Victoria. He is available Mon, Thursday and Sat for both Telehealth and onsite in-clinic consultations.
Follow this link to find out more about our Telehealth Service and to book an appointment