Craig Payne

Should you pee on your chilblains to treat them?

It easy to come across recommendations that urine therapy should be used to treat chilblains with lots of references to “my mum” or “my grandma” used to use it and swears by it fixing their chilblains (Google it). There is not a shred of evidence…

Should you pee on your chilblains to treat them?

It easy to come across recommendations that urine therapy should be used to treat chilblains with lots of references to “my mum” or “my grandma” used to use it and swears by it fixing their chilblains (Google it). There is not a shred of evidence…

Does calcaneal apophysitis occur in adults?

No. Of course it doesn’t. Its a disorder of the calcaneal growth plate that can not happen after the teenager stops growing as that growth plate merges with the rest of the calcaneus and is no longer there to cause problems. So why are you writing a…

Cupping For Plantar Fasciitis

We all have seen those photos of swimmers at the Olympics with bruises all over their bodies and wondered, “whaaaaaaaaaat?”. It is an alleged therapeutic technique known as cupping where the therapist places special cups on your skin to create…

The Dilemma Faced by Athletes

One of my favorite reads from a few years ago (2017) was ‘The Athletes Dilemma’ by John Weston and I have just now re-read sections of it. Anyone who is working with athletes needs to read this book or at least be familiar with the issues that are…

August 19, 2022

One of my favorite reads from a few years ago (2017) was ‘The Athletes Dilemma’ by John Weston and I have just now re-read sections of it. Anyone who is working with athletes needs to read this book or at least be familiar with the issues that are…

Zinc Supplements for Verrucae on the Foot

The bottom line is that supplements only work if there is a deficiency. If you take in any more than the body needs, the body just excretes it or stores it and it makes no difference except running the risk of an overload or an overdose. You can not…

What is the best-selling product on Amazon.com for ‘Sever’s Disease’?

I was doing some digging around Amazon.com to see what sorts of products people are buying for the self-care of their foot problems and this one for Sever’s disease stuck out like a sore thumb. I can’t say I am surprised by this. What I was surprised…

Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 … my take

I am far from being any sort of infectious disease, emergency medicine or pharmacology expert and way out of my lane on this one, but if ‘Karen from Facebook’ can have a view, then why can’t I? What I do think I am good at is reading, evaluating and…

Vitamin D and the Foot

I have been doing my weekly update on research and views for a few years now and you start to see patterns in the research and the literature. One that really stood out like a sore thumb was vitamin D. At one stage a year or so ago, I was commenting…

Do foot orthotics increase the risk for running injury?

Do foot orthotics increase the risk for running injury? According to a new study they do. But that does not gel very well with pretty much all the outcome studies on foot orthotics showing that they work. How can we reconcile that? Lets start with…

‘Grounding’ or ‘Earthing’ is still bollocks

It is disappointing to feel the need to write about ‘Grounding’ or ‘Earthing’ again. I have done it before here and here. Many others have done the same as it is great fodder for skeptical writers. ‘Grounding’ or ‘Earthing’ is still bollocks and made…

My Not So Scientific Study on Calcaneal Apophysitis (Sever’s Disease)

I have previously written on all my clinical work, research and teaching experiences with calcaneal apophysitis and just how much I realised I did not know and just how much I learnt when my own child got it. As my daughters have just come out of the…

Why Podiatrists Should be Concerned About Concussion in Sport

Concussions have always had a particular interest for me. The politics around concussion in sport and the alleged cover-ups and the significant public health consequences have long been a fascinating issue to follow. Will Smith’s 2015 movie,…

Beetroot juice for chilblains? ….. say what?

Chilblains are generally not that responsive to treatment with most interventions having some effect, but no one intervention really curing them or having any great consistent affect. Lots of people have opinions and preferences for treatments, most…

Natural Cures for Heel Spurs – the quack is strong in this one.

The whole ‘natural cures’ industry is a scam. Just because something is natural does not make it better. Arsenic is natural. Ionizing radiation is natural. Neither of them are any good for you. Arguing that something is better because it is natural…

How does stuff like this make it into professional journals?

Any publication with the title of A Novel Treatment Approach to Over-Pronation Dysfunction is going to get my attention, mostly because of the nonsensical understanding of “overpronation”. I was not disappointed and it was as bad as I expected. Even…

Oh, the cognitive dissonance

Just put together a video for the Clinical Biomechanics Boot Camp on ‘Clinical Practice Can be Deceptive’ wrestling with an issue I can’t quite get my head around. Sometimes writing about it helps me think clearer, so here goes: Foot orthotics for…

Reflexology research …. ‘low hanging fruit’

When you are busy and have so much important stuff to write about, it is so much easier to go after the ‘low hanging fruit’. Much less effort is needed and when it so easy, you don’t need to think too hard about it. Research on reflexology never…

Natural Cures for Heel Spurs – the quack is strong in this one.

The whole ‘natural cures’ industry is a scam. Just because something is natural does not make it better. Arsenic is natural. Ionizing radiation is natural. Neither of them are any good for you. Arguing that something is better because it is natural…