WELCOME TO THINK FEET PODIATRY
Dr Renea Reich Tells the Truth About Think Feet Podiatry®
8Hello, and welcome to Think Feet Podiatry. I guess I was always destined for business. I grew up knowing what a family business was all about in Western Australia and here in Queensland.
I returned to Toowoomba (after study, overseas and other Podiatry positions) and took up a position with a local Podiatrist. After about 1 year there I just knew it was “time” to go out on my own.
I had driven around the Toowoomba Specialist Centre several times and I just liked it. So one day, I walked in and entered unit 6. Dr John McIntyre (Psychiatrist) greeted me and I asked him if I could buy his medical suite. He said yes! There is no more flare to this story. That was it. I then spent my house deposit on my first commercial, which is where I started Think Feet Podiatry.
With $500 in the bank and a $550 mortgage repayment due next week, I knew I just had to make it work.
I then shared my time between Toowoomba and Warwick (1 hour drive away). I leased a room from the Pharmacy one day a week. In the early days there were home visits and I had a general Podiatry business. General Podiatry is nail care, diabetes and basically anyone who booked an appointment with me.
After 18 months in business I wanted more. More than being just another general Podiatry clinic. Business was going well and I was “fully booked” several weeks in advanced in Toowoomba. This meant I didn’t need to keep Warwick anymore. I was busy enough to lose that one day per week travelling off site and that time had come to make the decision to concentrate solely on the Toowoomba clinic.
The next stage for a business change had come too. I simply said “no more”. No more to general Podiatry, and overnight, this is how I became a sports and children’s clinic.
My background and real expertise is in biomechanics / physics / science and athletics. I really just wanted to do more of that. I expanded to a bigger medical suite, concentrated on really specific Podiatry and 15 years later I still haven’t looked back.
I have always had a strong interest with running / technique / injury prevention and rehabilitation. I offer regular running clinics and I really enjoy teaching runners of all levels transform into a much more efficient runner. All sorts of sporting backgrounds attend these clinics. Running, is the base of nearly every sport.
Think Feet Podiatry is firmly established and forging on well past a decade of service in the Toowoomba and Darling Downs region.
Giving back to the community is something I enjoy, especially holding the position of Centre Manager and Head Coach for Toowoomba Little Athletics. It’s the biggest Little Athletics in Toowoomba.
To date I have completed over $80,000 worth of Club Foot casting by donating my time and skills. Club Foot is a genetic condition where one or both feet are malaligned. I use the same plaster cast if someone had a broken arm. I change the cast weekly for 6 weeks and some go on to Brisbane for a small surgical procedure to complete the treatment.
There is plenty more planned for the future. For those who know me, thank you for your continued support and for those who don’t know me yet… Welcome!
WE HAVE PLENTY OF WAYS TO HELP YOU
Dr Renea Reich | Exclusive Interview
Structural Podiatrist and Founder of Think Feet Podiatry® and Podiatry Coach®
WHEN DID YOUR PASSION FOR SPORTS PODIATRY START? To be honest it started with being an athlete (of many sports), coupled with studying a lot of biomechanics + physics in my 1st degree at Griffith University over 25 years ago. While I worked my way through University, I was particularly inspired by a Sports Chiropractor where I was the Sports Trainer of an A-Grade AFL team. He adjusted the athletes effortlessly and with great success. Since then, I went on to study Podiatry, travel overseas and around Australia; searching for and perfecting rehabilitation techniques, namely foot and leg manipulation techniques.
IF YOU COULD DO ANY OTHER JOB, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Travel with the Australian Olympic and Commonwealth Games Athletics teams as coach and Podiatrist.
IS THERE ANYTHING INTERESTING ABOUT YOU THAT NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT: I am superstitious. Whenever I drop the salt shaker, I will throw a pinch of salt over my left shoulder.
HOW DO YOU SWITCH OFF? I go surfing.
WHAT ARE YOUR GUILTY PLEASURES? The Bold and the Beautiful television show. I even watch it on the internet later because I always miss it at 4:30 pm. I’m usually in the clinic, at Pilates or Judo training.
WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST STRENGTH: Never being satisfied. I never feel “done”. I’m always searching for more or a better way of doing things.
WHAT IS YOUR WEAKNESS: Probably the same.
DO YOU HAVE ANY HOBBIES? I’m a “homesteader”. I’m nearly self-sufficient. My next conquest is aquaponics (fish, fruit + vegetables in the same ecosystem). I grew up in a self-sufficient household and somehow learned by osmosis how to grow, raise, prepare and preserve everything.
ANY LASTING WORDS OF WISDOM? Keep starting. I would rather hear of someone starting something 100 times over, than never having a go at all.