06/20/2013    

RESPONSES / COMMENTS - (NON-CLINICAL)

RE: Ideal Feet

From: Mark Robson, DPM

I am concerned about a company named Ideal Feet. They are the first commercial business that is openly anti-podiatry. Because their shtick is to sell cheap OTC orthotics as expensive custom devices, we are competition. They have ads telling people to come in for treatment of heel pain. Basically, they are diagnosing and treating medical conditions of the feet without a medical license. Ads and salespeople tell patients to avoid the podiatrist who can only offer injections, surgery, or expensive orthotics that don't work. Each store has a barrel of "ineffective" old custom orthotics clients have supposedly turned in. Money wasted on the podiatrist, chiropractor, or pedorthist is the message.

People spend over $400 for a basic rubber catalogue-type device. Allen Selner's Walk Fit devices have a better design for less than $20. I'm not sure what would be appropriate to do, but this company needs to be watched as an anti-podiatry franchise.

 

Mark Robson, DPM, Austin, TX, MRobsonDPM@aol.com