Medicine: Best Foot Forward

Man’s feet are more distinctively human than his apelike hands. But he doesn’t pay much attention to his feet, and he doesn’t think very highly of foot doctors. Podiatry (a newer and more popular word than chiropody) is not yet recognized as a part of organized medicine.*

One of the men largely responsible for podiatry’s increasingly respectable status is Manhattan’s Dr. Maurice J. Lewi (rhymes with Dewey). Dr. Lewi, who celebrated his birthday last week by blowing out all 91 candles ( none to grow on) with one lusty puff, has been thinking about foot troubles for 72 years.

Father’s Pain. His interest began with a pain in his father’s foot. His father, a doctor, suffered from metatarsalgia (a pain between instep and toes). His medical colleagues did him no good, but an oldtime chiropodist helped him. Said Lewi’s father: “Maurice, someday it may be your opportunity to let the doctors know the value of foot care.” That was in 1876, when Maurice was a medical student.

While he was secretary of the New York State Board of Medical Examiners, a job he held for 22 years, Dr. Lewi, in 1895, backed the first law in New York giving chiropodists the right to set standards of fitness. For almost 36 years he has been president of Long Island University’s College of Podiatry.

Podiatrists may now give local (but not general) anesthetics, prescribe sedatives like barbiturates (not narcotics), perform minor surgery. They treat not only corns, bunions and calluses, but also foot symptoms of gout, arthritis and circulation disturbances. One of their most important jobs is teaching diabetics proper foot care, to reduce the chances of gangrene. Podiatrists practice in 40 hospitals in New York State, in about 1,000 in the U.S.

Chauffeur’s Callus. Modern man’s feet, says Dr. Lewi, get too little exercise but are overworked in other ways. For example, driving an automobile too much can cause a painful callus called “chauffeur’s foot.” Dr. Lewi keeps his own feet and leg muscles in shape by walking up & down from his fourth-floor office. He has never had any trouble with his feet, except for a corn back in 1913.

Dr. Lewi has a pet explanation for his energetic longevity: “I have never lost any energy resisting temptation … I have been a bit selfish all my life.” He likes a Scotch highball before dinner, a glass of wine or beer before bed, and smokes 12 to 14 cigars a day. He plays both poker and bridge, often until 1 a.m., but he almost never wins, he explains, because he is a Pechvogel (unlucky person). His dream for the future is a hospital for foot sufferers. Says he: “It’s funny. There are so many wealthy, gouty old men. None of them has yet set aside money for a real podiatry hospital.”

*Neither is dentistry, but the dentists are making progress. Some uniniversities (e.g., University of Rochester) have combined their medical and dental schools.