News & Events

Foot forward was present in Athens during the Special Olympics

Diamanto Maliotou – Papasavva represented the FIP, International Federation of the Podiatrists as a member of the executive board. She was present during the opening ceremony held in Kallimarmaro stadium and had the chance to see a group of podiatrists from all over the world during their training how to report the data of the measurements for the athletes. The general atmosphere of Special Olympics was something incredible. The smiles on these athletes faces really touched our hearts. Their families were so proud of them participating in this worlds biggest event.

Simone Eisses was was there amongst other podiatrist from Cyprus, Greece, Belgium, Turkey, UK, USA and took part in the mesurements of the children. Her words for her experience were the following: “The smiles on the athletes faces, I will never forget! So much power and joy they gave to the Olympics, amazing! It was one of the best decisions I ever made, to become a volunteer and to participate in this event! Together with other podiatrists from Cyprus I was working in Athens for one week in the health department to check the athletes feet and shoes. We gave them advice and created a better understanding about the importance of foot function and good shoes! Besides playing the role of a podiatrist I became friends with the athletes and I was there to support them and admire their beautiful medals!! A wonderfull experience!”

 

Foot forward is announcing the new clinic in Paphos. We officially start on the 1^st of September 2011. We will be part of the Hiipocratic Clinic, 6, Hellados Ave., 8020 Paphos, Cyprus. For more information please call our Nicosia offices 22446464 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            22446464      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Our Dutch podiatrist Simone Eisses will be running the clinic there.


Simone's own words

'When I came to Cyprus in 2009 to work at Foot Forward, as a student that time, I realized very soon that this was the perfect clinic for me. The combinations of a growing clinic in a country were podiatry is still unknown and the principle of forward thinking (innovations and evidence based practice) was one of the reasons I decided to stay close to the team.  

I started to study Podiatry in 2007 in the Netherlands and I had known that at some point I wanted to discover the profession abroad for a couple of years. During my student time I was very active and involved in several projects, such as presenting podiatric related subjects to different kinds of health professions and promoting Podiatry for new students.

After the completion of the course in June 2011, I volunteered as a Podiatrist at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens together with other Podiatrists from Cyprus. A great experience to be involved!

I am responsible for the location in Paphos and I have been working hard on my Greek language skills and will continue to do so. Because of my wide interests in the Podiatry field, I will work with diabetic patients as well as with athletes to examine biomechanics.

In the following years I would love to start my Master degree in Podiatry and to become involved in research projects, in conjunction with daily patient care.

Hope I can welcome you soon in Paphos! '

(Demos Voskarides attended the Vasyli Think Tank)

When the Think Tank team makes a two days conference definitely the result is amazing, pleasant and educational. More than 120 podiatrists and physiotherapists attend the conference all over the United Kingdom.

A huge emphasis given as always on biomechanical abnormalities such as Achilles Tendonopathy, Limb Length Discrepancies, Metatarsalgia, management of chronic pain post ankle sprain etc. Moreover, small tutorial groups formed and people of Vasyli demonstrate interesting strapping and lower limb manipulations techniques. Also, various treatment approaches were discussed for the above problems.

The 6th International Symposium on the Diabetic Foot (ISDF), Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands, In May (11-14)2011

Our podiatrist Diamanto Maliotou – Papasavva participated in this international four day symposium which has became the number one internationally and it gathers all the disciplines that work with the diabetic foot for a 4 day very intensive program of lectures and workshops. The latest insights and developments in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the diabetic foot were presented. ww.diabeticfoot.nl

  
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:
WORKSHOPS
DIAMANTO MALIOTOU-PAPASAVVA
    
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:
DR ABBAS FROM TANZANIA
DR MAGREET VAN PUTTEN, A LIVE DIABETIC FOOT CLINIC
DR MIKE EDMONDS HOLDS THE KAREL BAKKER AWARD

   

  

The Consensus Day to the International Working Group of the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF). 10 May 2011, Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands,

Every 4 years, prior to the big symposium of the Diabetic foot, the representatives of the countries are gathering together to discuss the latest draft of the prepared documents of the updated guidelines and reach a consensus in order for the group to be able to publish these guideline 4 days later.

One of the objectives of the IWGDF is to develop guidelines to reduce the impact of diabetic foot disease through quality and cost-effective healthcare, based on the principles of evidence-based medicine, augmented with expert opinion. The first International Consensus/Guidelines were launched in 1999. Since then, thanks to the organisation's global network, over 80,000 copies of the guidelines have been distributed throughout the world, and the publication has been translated into 26 languages. Diamanto Maliotou Papasavva was appointed to represent Cyprus in 2005 by Pr. Karel Bakker.

  

March 2011

Diamanto Maliotou-Papasavva was invited to speak to the orthopedteknik conference in Goteborg in Sweden. She was there to talk about technology of today and its applications for the preventive care of the people with diabetic foot complications. See the following link for details.

Ortopedteknik 2011

 
This young girl was cycling with a very big smile on her face with her prosthetic lower limb.

   
The formal dinner of the conference was a great big party along with a Swedish rock band which everybody loved.

During February 2011 Despina Theodorou travelled to Germany and visited the premises of Schein. Schein is a company that Foot-Forward has been collaborating with. She attended a 2 day seminar that was held by the company regarding new concepts of insole manufacturing for various neurological problems. The seminar was related to the use of sensorimotor insoles in relation to the improvement of gait and posture. During the two-day seminar she had the chance to exchange views with other health professionals who work with gait analysis and manufacture of insoles.

In late September 2010, Dr. Abbas from Tanzania and Diamanto Maliotou – Papasavva met at the premises of novel company (www.novel.de) in Munich. The three parties met and discussed the new project that will be sponsored by novel and will be completed in a few years. The aim of the project in general is to screen thousands of people with Diabetes and study the patterns of pressure distribution with time and other parameters. The project begins officially in January 2011 and it will be taking place both in Cyprus and Tanzania simultaneously.

The meeting dates coinsided with the Octoberfest days and the three went for a beer and some traditionally cooked meals at the most popular beer festival of the world. www.oktoberfest.de

Tanzania Foot Forward project and novel website collaboration : Tanzania project 

Simone has visited Cyprus once again and we had the pleasure to welcome her to our office.  She came to Cyprus for her Project on Research in children of Cyprus.  In association with Foot Forward a survey has been conducted in various schools to investigate the flat feet in Cyprus. Below you will find Simone's own words telling us her experience on this Research.

Research project in children of Cyprus

By Simone Eisses, podiatry student from the Netherlands

An investigation about flat feet (pes planus valgus foot deformity) presenting in children of Cyprus.

Pes planus (flatfoot) is one of the most common conditions observed in pediatric health practice (Luhmann 2000; Sullivan 1999). The prevalence of pediatric pes planus has been reported to between 2.7% and 12.3% (Garcia 1999). There is no universally accepted definition for pes planus. Clinically, a pes planus is one that has a low or absent longitudinal arch that is present in an open kinetic chain (non weight bearing) and lost in closed kinetic chain (weight bearing).

Normally developing infants have a flexible flatfoot and gradually develop a normal arch during the first decade of life (Capello 1998).

As I was visiting the Foot Forward clinic last year for my clinical training, I was very glad that the Foot Forward team gave me the opportunity to come back for a research project.

At that time, last year, I realized that the main groups of patients, in special children, are having a pes planus valgus foot deformity. If you compare this group of children with an average clinic in the Netherlands, the amount of children is much higher!

For podiatrists in Cyprus it is very important to get a better knowledge about flat feet in children as the amount of children in the clinic is high. The purpose of this study is to investigate the pes planus valgus foot deformity in children of Cyprus and besides understanding of the possible intern and extern factors of the pes planus foot.

Together with podiatrist Demos Voskarides I am visiting several schools around the island for screenings. I am planning to see 90 children between the age of 6-13 years old. We are measuring a lot of factors such as: height/weight (BMI), foot type, activity status of the children, movement disabilities in the foot joints, asking for pain in the lower extremity and we are using the Novel distribution platform for clinical (gait/pressure) examination. The schools that were happy to host us are the Forum school, www.forum.ac.cy , the GCE school Elementary in Nicosia, www.gcsc.ac.cy , and the American Academy in Limassol www.americanacademy.ac.cy . We thank all the schools for their generosity, help and their general positive approach towards young students and their studies.

By finalizing this project around April 2011, I would like to create more clearness and understanding about the flatfoot in children of Cyprus.  The Foot Forward clinic will be using this information in the near future.

Diamanto Maliotou-Papasavva was invited to the SOCAP meeting and had the chance to talk about her work with Diabetic people in Cyprus.  The title of the work was:  "Technology for preventive diabetic foot care. A personal view" 

Technology for preventive diabetic foot care.  A personal view.