600+
Grads per year when field needs ~200–300
5+
Competing "board" bodies — most not APMA-recognized
Board Wars
ABFAS vs. ABPM vs. Everyone Else
SDN's most relitigated topic. Forum consensus: ABFAS is the only credential that matters for surgical privileges in major metro areas — but it has serious testing design flaws and left roughly half of practicing DPMs unable to qualify. ABPM became the de facto "people's board" precisely because it let people stay in the game. The proliferation of unrecognized boards was repeatedly called an embarrassment that doesn't exist in any other profession.
· SDN Podiatry Forum, multiple threads 2015–2024
Saturation
"Nail Jail" and the Job Market Trap
The recurring nightmare: graduate into a saturated market, accept a low-base bait-and-switch associate job, and end up trimming toenails at a Medicaid clinic because no one will let you use your surgical training. Forum veterans were unambiguous: most metro areas are full. Geographic flexibility isn't optional — it's survival.
· SDN Podiatry Satisfaction Poll; Future of Podiatry threads
"As long as podiatry continues to graduate 600+ yearly when we only really need around 200–300, we are all judged and income-limited by our lowest common denominators."
— SDN Attending, Podiatry Income thread, 2024
More Issues
Identity
The Inferiority Complex is Real
Forum users diagnosed podiatry's cultural wound: some well-trained DPMs become arrogant overcompensators, others constantly seek validation. The tell? Calling yourself "fellowship-trained foot and ankle surgeon" instead of podiatrist — because some in the field are apparently embarrassed by the word "podiatry."
· "What is the deal with podiatry?" SDN 2023
Leadership
Disarray at the Top
SDN posters were consistent: podiatry's leadership problem isn't laziness — it's conflicts of interest. CPME accreditation committees were called out directly. The forum's diagnosis: a profession where nobody in charge is incentivized to solve the oversupply problem because the schools need tuition revenue.
· "What is the deal with podiatry?" SDN 2023
Residency
Program Quality: Massive Variance
Unlike MD specialties where a bad match still means reasonable training, a poor podiatry residency can leave a graduate genuinely unprepared for boards and surgical practice. Many programs were called out for producing PSR-12 numbers from PM&S-36 slots — volume fraud that harms graduates and the profession's credibility.
· ABFAS ITE thread; Considering Podiatry thread, SDN 2022
1
Board — the near-universal forum consensus
↓
Cut seats — only supply reduction fixes saturation
Boards
"Just Merge the Boards and Be Done With It"
This was the closest SDN came to unanimous agreement. The exact quote — profane and blunt — captured the frustration of a decade of forum debate. The forum's proposed fix: one unified surgical board, ABMS-style oversight, and the immediate elimination of unrecognized certification mills. The negotiating table has existed since APMA Vision 2015. Nothing has happened. Forum verdict: nobody in power has incentive to give up their organization.
· ABPM 2024 thread; ABFAS/ABPM threads, multiple years
"We need to significantly cut slots in the schools. The only way the situation improves is a decade or two of seriously decreased enrollments that cause several schools to close."
— SDN Attending, Podiatry Satisfaction Poll, 2023
Supply
Cut School Enrollment (Hardest Fix, Most Agreed On)
SDN consensus was brutal and clear: demand for podiatrists will not outrun supply unless the schools stop producing graduates at current rates. The proposed number — around 200 to 300 genuine graduates into 200 to 300 quality residency spots — appears across dozens of threads. By 2025–2026, the tone shifted from "cut seats someday" to "enrollment collapse may force the correction anyway." School closures were still seen as the only credible mechanism.
· Future of Podiatry; Podiatry Income; The Future of Podiatry threads, SDN 2022–2026
Individual-Level Advice
Career
ABFAS RRA First. Geography Second. Everything Else After.
The practical playbook repeated by every senior forum voice: Get ABFAS certified, preferably RRA. Be geographically open — Midwest cities beat metro saturation. Take leadership positions (APMA counts). Delay real estate and luxury purchases until you have a stable base. Have a private practice ownership mindset from day one of residency, because associate tracks often go nowhere.
· The Future of Podiatry thread; Future of Podiatry, SDN 2022
Jobs
Hospital and VA Employment: The Safer Track
Forum veterans consistently pointed to hospital employment and VA positions as the most stable and fairly compensated jobs in the profession — and the hardest to get. Advice: stand out, use connections from residency and school, and apply early. The bait-and-switch salary structure of private practice was consistently flagged as a red flag; most base salaries advertised as "$250K" revealed themselves as $100K guarantees.
· Future of Podiatry; Is Podiatry Likely to Become More Competitive, SDN
Standards
What Schools Should Teach (But Don't)
One forum poster compiled a list of things every DPM needs to know before entering practice that no podiatric school covers: fee schedules, commercial vs. Medicare insurance mechanics, NNN real estate, CAQH credentialing, malpractice types, MIPS, MACRA, ACO, DRG, 1995 vs. 1997 E&M, disability insurance. The response: widespread agreement that the business education gap is a structural failure of podiatric training.
· Is Podiatry Likely to Become More Competitive, SDN 2020
2049
SDN's projected year podiatry stabilizes (satirical)
~3
Schools remaining in the forum's ideal future scenario
Best Case
The "3 Schools, 200 Seats" Vision
The forum's clearest optimistic scenario: enrollment collapses to the point where three schools survive — one East, one West, one Central — with roughly 200 seats per year. Student quality improves dramatically. Every graduate matches a quality residency. Nearly everyone passes ABFAS. Jobs become plentiful and salaries approach MD-level. One poster gave this outcome a target date of 2075; even sympathetic replies treated the timeline as painfully long.
· Podiatry Job Market Satisfaction, SDN 2023
Worst Case
Medicare Trust Fund + Saturation = Implosion
Several posters flagged a specific existential threat: Medicare trust fund depletion in the coming decade. Podiatry is heavily dependent on CMS reimbursement. Combine reduced Medicare rates with saturated private practice markets, corporate/PE supergroups normalizing low associate pay, and school expansion that leadership was slow to check — and the profession's financial model gets squeezed from multiple directions simultaneously.
· The Future of Podiatry; Private Equity / Venture Capital and Podiatry, SDN 2022–2026
"I am not discouraging anyone from entering the profession, but if one wants a 'sure thing' as far as a career — that is not podiatry."
— SDN Attending, Podiatry Income Across Professions, 2024
Structural Trends
Private Equity
PE Supergroups: The Forum Verdict Turned Harsh
This section needed the biggest correction. By 2025–2026, SDN's podiatry forum was no longer treating private equity as a genuinely contested opportunity. The dominant view was that PE-backed supergroups exploit saturation: older owners cash out, associates lose ownership paths, contracts and non-competes trap new grads, pay clusters around low private-practice bases, and clinical incentives shift toward volume, internal referrals, grafts, DME, and "value-based care" branding. A minority argument remains that PE groups can be competed against because service is mediocre and smaller practices can win on quality, but that is not an endorsement of PE — it is an argument for outlasting it.
· Private Equity / Venture Capital and Podiatry; Upperline Podiatry; The Future of Podiatry, SDN 2025–2026
Demand
Aging Population: Real, But Not a Rescue
The "boomers need foot care" argument is real — SDN acknowledges that demand for podiatric services will grow. The forum's counterargument: demand growth of two to three percent per year means little when training capacity expanded faster than the market and geographic saturation already prevents many DPMs from practicing at the top of their training. Demand doesn't fix supply.
· Future of Podiatry; Podiatry Career Outlook, SDN multiple threads
Hope
One Good Opportunity Can Change Everything
Buried in the pessimism: a persistent strand of honest optimism. The same senior forum voices who called out the bad jobs and the unfair markets also said this — it only takes one good opportunity, and for many DPMs who found their niche, the career is genuinely rewarding, financially sustainable, and worth it. The profession can be great. The ceiling is real. So is the floor.
· Podiatry Income Across Professions, SDN 2024