An evaluation of a virtual musculoskeletal podiatry service implemented to address prolonged National Health Service waiting times.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on healthcare systems globally, particularly in the public sector. To address the challenges posed by the pandemic, musculoskeletal (MSK) healthcare providers had to rapidly adopt virtual platforms for delivering care, representing a major shift in how healthcare was delivered.

Objective: This manuscript aims to retrospectively evaluate a virtual MSK podiatry service offered by a private provider under a National Health Service commission, in terms of patient access, waiting times and patient-reported pain.

The reliability of a smartphone goniometer application compared with a traditional goniometer for measuring first metatarsophalangeal joint dorsiflexion.

Background: Adequate sagittal plane motion of the first metatarsalphalangeal joint (1st MTPJ) is important during normal gait and goniometric measurement is commonly used as a diagnostic and outcome assessment tool. We aimed to determine the intra and inter-rater reliability together with the concurrent validity of a universal plastic goniometer (UG) and a smartphone applicationlication (Dr G) for the measurement of dorsiflexion at the 1st MTPJ.

Methods: Measurement of joint position and passive range of motion of the 1st MTPJ dorsiflexion was compared using a UG and DrG goniometer.