What is Pedorthics?
Pedorthics is the management and treatment of conditions of the foot, ankle, and lower extremities requiring fitting, fabricating, and adjusting of pedorthic devices. Pedorthics uses footwear to help ease and treat these foot-related problems.
What is an ABC-Certified Pedorthist?
An ABC (American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics) Certified Pedorthist (peh-DOR-thist) or C.Ped., is a health care professional specifically educated and trained to manage comprehensive pedorthic patient care.
This includes patient assessment, formulation of a treatment plan, implementation of the treatment plan, follow-up, and practice management.
Pedorthic care includes patient evaluation, and the design, fabrication, fitting, modification, maintenance, and repair of pedorthic devices for the prevention or amelioration of painful and/or disabling conditions that originate at the ankle or below.
What makes the Midwest School of Modern Pedorthics different?
Not just different. Superior. Our precertification program in pedorthics is so much more than the bare minimum. If you are looking for a minimalist class, this is not it. We offer the most on-site lab time and in-person didactic, interactive, and hands-on learning experiences – things you simply won’t find elsewhere.
Our core faculty has over 125 years of combined clinical and educational pedorthic experience. All four team members have both practiced and taught pedorthics extensively. Our MSMP associate faculty joins us from various pedorthic-related professions – podiatry, physical therapy, and engineering – to share their knowledge, expertise and insight with you.
Core Faculty
Dennis Janisse, CPed
Erick Janisse, CO, CPed
Jeremy Janisse, CPed, COA
Brian Lane, CPed, BS-Ed
Associate Faculty
Sean Wilson, DPM, FACFAS
Arik Tavs, DPT
Chris Lawrie, MSc
How does the MSMP Precertification Program in Pedorthics work?
The program is divided into two sections: Online and In-person.
The first is online and completely on-demand; you work through it at your own pace. The online portion is compiled of 57 modules (about 68 hours’ worth of material) that you will need to complete before attending the in-person portion of the course. The online section is where you will learn the basics of terminology, anatomy, biomechanics, pathology, pedorthic modalities, and practice management. Our instructors are available to you via email, phone or video conference throughout the process if you have any questions, concerns or just want to check in.
The second half of the program is done in-person at our school in Mequon, WI. While other programs offer only a 40-hour, 5-day on-site class, ours is a fully immersive 7-day program. Our in-person portion is a full 60 hours of live education. Your time in Mequon will be split between live, interactive workshops and lectures in our classroom, and hands-on instruction and fabrication of foot orthoses, partial foot prostheses and shoe modifications in our fabrication laboratory. For labs and workshops, the class will be split into small groups to maximize student-instructor interaction and accessibility.
At the conclusion of the in-person portion of the course, there is a written final exam. In order to pass the course and receive your Certificate of Completion, you must achieve a passing score of at least 70% on the final exam.
What will you learn during the precertification in pedorthics program?
In a nutshell, everything that a pedorthist needs to know to be able to provide the best care for their patients. ABC breaks this down into six domains and the course dives deeply into each to provide a comprehensive pedorthic education.
- Domain I – Patient Assessment
- Domain II – Formulation of the Treatment Plan
- Domain III – Implementation of the Treatment Plan
- Domain IV – Follow-up to the Treatment Plan
- Domain V – Practice Management
- Domain VI - Promotion of Competency and Enhancement of Professional Practice
In order to become an ABC-Certified Pedorthist, the candidate must complete an ABC-approved course, obtain 1000 hours of supervised Pedorthic experience (may come before or after completion of the course), and sit for and pass the ABC Certified Pedorthist Board Examination. Completion of this course satisfies ABC’s educational requirement for pre-exam eligibility.