Singapore is home to a range of foot types, most commonly flat foot. We often assess, treat and prevent lower limb problems for personnel in the military and law enforcement units. As foot specialists, we may be presented with new lower limb problems which require urgent treatment or tasked to salvage and restore foot function to those patients who have not sought treatment for chronic injuries while in service.
Soldiers come to our clinic for a few reasons:
- Screening and Prevention of foot problems before starting army
- Assessment and Treatment of pain acquired during army training
- Salvage of untreated foot problems that worsened through army life
The human musculoskeletal system forms a closed kinetic chain for force propagation and stress distribution; unresolved lower limb issues can lead to a chain reaction throughout the body. For example, flat feet can affect the knees, hips and even the spine. Many enlistees go from a sedentary lifestyle to a highly active one, with over a 100% increase of repetitive forces on their feet. This can quickly cause new musculoskeletal pain, or exacerbate a pre-existing one.
Most lower extremity problems are found during initial foot screening sessions, while a thorough evaluation of injuries and biomechanics abnormalities is necessary in order to formulate a proper treatment plan.
Specialised military orthotics
We design fully customized medical-grade insoles to help with problems such as painful ankle impingement, flat feet, heel spurs, calluses, shin splints, knee pain, and many other lower limb conditions. Orthotic insoles made for the high-intensity regimes that military personnel are put through, must be robust enough to withstand long hours of high load and intensive training. We offer comprehensive treatment plans to ensure you get the results you want whether it is pain relief, enhanced performance, or prevention of future problems.
Watch our video about what soldiers may expect with regards to their feet, as well as some treatment modalities we offer.
Army personnel are commonly seen in clinic for:
- Flat foot
- Foot pain (heel, midfoot, forefoot)
- Knee, hip and back pain
- Fungal skin or foot rot
- Soft tissue infections
- Ingrown toenail
- Toe and nail trauma
- Stress fractures
- Nerve compression in the ankle/ foot
- Ankle instability
- Enhanced endurance/ performance
- Sprains, strains, and overuse injuries
Across the world, most Western armed forces have a Podiatrist attached to their unit to attend to the personnel’s legs, ankles and feet. Podiatrists can help all service personnel, not only combat soldiers, with anything from minor foot concerns, to lower extremity pain and injury, to limb salvage.
Our podiatrists have ample experience in treating National Service personnel, many of whom would frequent local public hospitals such as Singapore General Hospital and Polyclinics.
During Dr. Michael Lai’s tour of duty in the USA, he specifically treated military men in the New Jersey Veterans Affairs Medical Centre, and is experienced with the military sector of Podiatry. He had also served as Principal Podiatrist in Singapore General Hospital for 6 years before joining East Coast Podiatry Centre.
