02/02/2020    Alan Sherman, DPM

My Feet are Killing Me Cable Series (Stephen Kominsky, DPM)

I want to respond to Stephen Kominsky’s message
critical of the APMA’s and podiatrists’ efforts
to educate the lay public about what we are and
what we do. Throughout my 42 years as a
podiatrist, I’ve seen so many efforts by the
APMA and state associations to educate the
public. I don’t believe that it’s done no good
at all, and I don’t thing Dr. Kominsky is
saying that. I’m sure it’s helped. But we must
acknowledge that what we tell the public about
ourselves is not going to have the credibility
of what they observe on their own, or are told
by trusted sources.

In this age of ubiquitous media, we have all
developed sophisticated filters and have
learned to challenge many sources of
information that 100 years ago, would have been
commonly accepted as truth. That’s the beauty
of media like My Feet Are Killing Me. Many who
watch this show believe what they are seeing
with their own eyes. It has credibility that
100 public relations education campaigns done
by the APMA can’t.

It’s certainly not perfect in its portrayal of
current podiatry practice. So much is left out
and too much emphasis is placed on the drama.
Frankly, if every patient encounter that I had
was like these unusual patients collected for
this show, I would have needed many more
vacations! And certainly astute viewers
recognize that this is a show created for their
entertainment, not a documentary about what
podiatrists do. Maybe we should commission the
production of a serious documentary, but many,
many fewer people would watch it.

I contacted and spoke to the producer and
creator of My Feet Are Killing Me, Eugene
Young, when I saw the initial teasers, before
the real episodes were developed. Turns out we
went to Colgate U together, at the same time,
but didn’t know each other. We have since
become friends. We had a series of long talks
about what should be shown on the show and what
should be left out. We spoke about the concern
that I had regarding this shows predecessor The
Toe Bro…that I didn’t want the public thinking
that Toronto chiropodist Jonathan Tomines and the
scope of his practice was representative of
what current well trained podiatrists are. I
told him that I wanted surgery, wound care and
treatment of trauma shown. I spent a lot of
time educating him as to what is righteous and
reputable, what is exciting about podiatry
today and why I am so proud of it. I think I
made a strong impression on him.

The show style turned out a bit more salacious
than I asked for, and there won’t be much
treatment of trauma, because the filming of it
can’t be scheduled in advance to coordinate
with the camera crew, etc. I didn’t get all
that I wanted, but all told, I think the show
will raise awareness of the wide scope of
practice of modern podiatrists and that we
competently treat quite a lot of what happens
to feet. There has been a lot of surgery and
the use of advanced amniotic tissue products.

I don’t always agree with the way Drs. Vincent
and Schaeffer educate their patients but they
are competent and among the best looking
podiatrists I’ve ever seen. We could do far
worse were we to choose a pair of “poster
children” for the profession. Ironically, I
think this show might just do more good for our
reputation as a profession than many of the PR
and education efforts that our profession has
tried to do for itself. It’ll be interesting to
see the results of Barry Block’s most recent
survey to see if others of us agree with me.

Alan Sherman, DPM, Boca Raton, FL

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