On the right foot

Only then does one realize how dependent they are upon the health of their feet.

But for the podiatrists at The Foot Doctors PC, the foot is always paramount – not only to their collective livelihoods but to the well-being of their patients.

Dr. Russell T. Dirksen founded The Foot Doctors in 1997, after setting up private practice when he moved to Springfield in 1993.

He incorporated as The Foot Doctor in 1994.

Dirksen’s private practice and later The Foot Doctors group practice was located in the Cox Medical South building for 10 years before moving to a nearly $2 million facility on East Montclair in December 2004.

In addition to its East Montclair facility, the practice has a Branson West office, and the doctors also see patients at a Monett outpatient clinic.

Team players

“We have four physicians here now,” Dirksen said.

“That number has just slowly grown through the years.”

The Foot Doctors team is a collection of skilled podiatrists with varied backgrounds and specialties.

Founder Dirksen started with business partner Lorene VanDam, who is now retired. He specializes in forefoot work.

Dr. Lesley N. Lile is a specialist in salvaging the limbs of patients suffering from diabetes, with depth of knowledge in reconstruction. He first met Dirkson as a student in 1996. Lile specializes in the rear foot and ankle.

Dr. Mark A. Seiden came to the clinic from Dallas in 2000 through a referral from former Foot Doctors’ physician Jennifer Pistner. Now part owner with Dirksen, Seiden has held clinics on Mondays at CoxHealth’s Nixa facility for two years. He specializes in the forefoot.

Dr. Craig R. Marsh, the latest to come on board, responded to an advertisement. He specializes in the rear foot and ankle.

The four physicians together treat problems large and small.

“We used to be more of a general forefoot surgical group, but we have diversified by adding rear foot surgery (and) ankle surgery,” Seiden said.

One of the group’s specialties is working with diabetic patients, under the hand of Lile.

“We are part of a loose organization of a team of physicians that helps people with diabetes to save limbs,” Dirksen said.

That team includes the patient’s internist and vascular surgeon.

“If they do not have blood flowing to their foot, we address that before anything else. We attempt to re-establish blood flow before we attempt a partial salvage,” Dirksen added.

“So that’s the more heroic, dramatic work that we do. But sometimes it is a matter of having a very frank discussion with them if they have a deformity that is going to be a risk factor for them in the future.”

Dirksen said that preventive measures in these cases are crucial, as of course, work is more easily done when the patient is in good health.

Even simple deformities such as a bunion or a hammertoe can have devastating effects on a patient with advanced diabetes.

Beyond this, The Foot Doctors treats a variety of maladies.

“We see children with flat-foot problems – not what people usually think of as flat-foot problems but genuine structural problems with their foot that will be a problem for them in the future,” Dirksen said.

“We deal with warts picked up at the pool and ingrown toenails in the pre-teenage range.”

In adults, the doctors see professionals who endure long hours on their feet on concrete flooring, such as hospital staff.

“We also see a fair amount of retirement-age people who are suffering either from the cumulative effects of old injuries or have deformities that have finally gotten bad enough for them to seek treatment,” Dirksen said. “And a lot of what we do is very humble work. We see a lot of elderly patients who, because of stiffness or their health, cannot bend down and care for their feet any longer, so we do that for them.”

He added that in the future, The Foot Doctors plans to launch a campaign to highlight childhood ailments that the doctors can help correct with orthotics rather than surgeries. The hope is that these ailments can be corrected before they are exacerbated and become serious adulthood problems.

With the exception of a few dermatological procedures, the practice’s surgeries are primarily performed in area surgical centers.

Kicking around referrals

Dr. Lori MacPherson of Cox Family Medicine in Mountain Grove has been sending patients to The Foot Doctors for several years.

“The reason I send them there is that they do a good job, but also in primary care, we do a lot of conservative treatments – oral medication, exercises – things that are not very invasive,” MacPherson said.

“The problem with that is that a lot of people don’t adhere to those regimens. So if conservative treatment fails and they need injections, things like that, I send them to the podiatrist.”

While Dirksen and his staff now handle the business aspect of running a medical practice with ease, this was not always the case.

“It is a business. I grew up in a small business, so I had some idea of what it would take to run a business on my own,” Dirksen said.

“But in the very beginning, before I could hire people to help me, mistakes were made with the number-crunching aspect of running a business. But it comes down to taking care of the folks that come in here, and we grew from that.”

The four doctors work with five nurses and an 11-person administrative staff, which helps put patients at ease.

“I think we have become more patient-friendly over the years,” Seiden said. “We pride ourselves on having a responsible and approachable staff.”

The Foot Doctors PC

Owners: Dr. Russell T. Dirksen and Dr. Mark A. Seiden

Founded: 1997

Address: 929 E. Montclair, Ste. 100, Springfield, MO 65807

Phone: (417) 883-1881 or (800) FOOT-DRS

Fax: (417) 883-4844

Web site: www.thefootdoctorspc.com

Employees: 18