Jasmine Truong (Chan)
Bachelor of Podiatry
I saw my first podiatrist in my early teens. Like most parents, mine were always concerned about their children’s health and well-being. I just thought I was young and invincible. However, as my symptoms gradually worsened, my parents knew a long term solution was required.
I had no idea who podiatrists were. Don’t they specialise in kids? After several weeks of following his practical management plan, my symptoms had resolved and I was enjoying my sports again. I was no longer constantly thinking about my feet. This fascinated me and I too wanted to help others in a similar situation.
The importance of footwear became evident when my one pair of sneakers didn’t seem to suit all my different activities. I had started running longer distances and continued playing squash. No one could clearly explain the differences between categories of shoes and I was confused about what to get. Surely all these companies didn’t just invest on the looks of the shoe…
Due to my history of foot problems, I was always forced into purchasing plain cross trainers which did the job, but was nothing fancy. Now that I had no straight answer about what shoe was best for me, I immediately picked a pair that looked great. For the first time I could feel the ventilation through my toes, life was great!
After several months, I started noticing niggly knee pains and my foot ached. I was wearing my orthotics and doing all the right things…as I thought. It was not until I asked the question to my lecturer did I appreciate the intricacy to fitting footwear and how they all differed. I knew that this was a Pandora’s Box that was worthwhile investigating.
In my pursuit to learn more about footwear, I began consulting out of Active Feet. I was working alongside other elite sports podiatrists in an environment purely focusing on fitting the best footwear for the client’s foot biomechanics and chosen activity.
With my feet feeling great, my squash improved immensely. This led to the selection into the Victorian Squash team competing at the Australian Junior Squash Championships for the next 2 consecutive years. This experience helped me understand the mental and physical discipline of the training that focussed towards a united goal, not only for me, but for my State. There were several set-backs along the way, which were frustrating, but trusting in my team of medical staff and coaches helped me return to peak fitness in time for the competition. Thanks to good footwear and healthy feet, I achieved my goal and stood on the podium as a runner up at the Australian Junior Squash Team Championships.
I am now a qualified local and international squash coach running several private and group training sessions every week. Organising lesson plans to cater for all standards have taught me the importance of appropriate activities to ensure maximum improvement in performance.
I believe that by combining my podiatry knowledge, footwear expertise, playing and coaching skills will provide you with a complete foot health solution.
Now it’s your turn to start your journey to healthier feet and achieve your goals. Book today on 9899 8655! I want to help you enjoy the success!