Most people don't think much about their feet until something hurts. Dr. Emily Splichal spent this conversation with Mark Anthony making the case that feet deserve a lot more attention than that — not as an isolated body part to be shoved into supportive shoes and forgotten, but as the foundation for how the entire body moves, recovers, and ages.
Splichal's path there wasn't a straight line. Her academic background started in forensics — a fact she says still amuses her parents — before she trained as a podiatric surgeon on the East Coast and spent ten years in clinical practice in New York City. Alongside her Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree, she also holds a master's in human movement science, and describes herself as much a "human movement specialist" as a foot doctor. More than 20 years in the fitness industry and her own background as a competitive athlete shaped a practice that now blends functional movement assessment with regenerative injection therapies — what she calls functional and regenerative podiatry. She now practices out of Arizona, after relocating from New York, and sees a large share of her patients virtually.
Key Takeaways
- Dr. Splichal is a podiatric surgeon who pairs her training with a master's in human movement — she treats the foot as part of a whole-body movement system, not an isolated part.
- Each foot has roughly 26 small muscles and thousands of nerve endings; she describes foot and ankle mobility as directly connected to pelvis and rib-cage mobility, meaning chronic issues like plantar fasciosis often trace back to how the whole body moves.
- Her regenerative injection approach has evolved over about ten years — starting with PRP, shifting to placental-based products, and moving to umbilical cord and exosome-based treatments, growth factors, and peptides after FDA changes affected placental-derived products during COVID.
- She follows patients for roughly three months after a regenerative injection with a specific protocol to gradually reintroduce load to the treated tissue, rather than sending patients straight back into sport or daily activity.
- She frames regenerative podiatry as an underused option that sits between conservative care (steroid injections, physical therapy, orthotics) and surgery — appropriate for specific presentations, not a fit for every patient who wants to avoid an operation.
From Forensics to Feet: Dr. Splichal's Path Into Regenerative Podiatry
Splichal trained as a surgeon and practiced traditional podiatry before her curiosity pulled her elsewhere. "I always approached it with a curiosity to ask questions and push buttons — is there another answer? Is that the only thing that we could be offering patients?" she said of her training. She came to believe that conventional podiatry, and Western medicine more broadly, often hands patients a short, fixed menu — orthotics, supportive shoes, physical therapy, surgery, or "just stop doing whatever you're doing" — without exploring what's actually happening in the tissue itself.
That question shapes how she now evaluates patients. Rather than examining a foot only on the exam table, she does in-depth movement, posture, and open-chain assessments, watching patients walk a real distance rather than a few steps. She estimates she can identify roughly 95% of foot conditions through this kind of assessment alone — including with patients she treats virtually — because, in her words, "the patient is telling me what's going on" if you create the space to actually listen and know which questions to ask.
The Foot as the Gateway to the Brain: Movement, Barefoot Living, and Grounding
A recurring theme of the conversation was how much information the foot sends to the rest of the nervous system — and how much of it modern life and modern footwear cut off. Splichal pointed out that each foot contains roughly 26 small muscles along with thousands of nerve endings, and that foot and ankle mobility is closely tied to pelvis and rib-cage mobility. Patients who walk stiffly, with little rotation through the hips or ribcage, tend to load the plantar fascia harder with every step — one of the most common patterns she sees behind chronic plantar fasciosis.
She's a strong advocate for spending more time barefoot, particularly at home, and for "barefoot before shod" training among the athletes she treats — waking up the nervous system barefoot before putting on shoes for sport or lifting. She named several minimal, zero-drop footwear brands she recommends for patients easing into the category, including Vivobarefoot, Xero Shoes, Peluva, Lems, and Feelgrounds, tracing the modern minimal-shoe movement back to the Vibram FiveFingers and Nike Free era of the late 2000s.
"Your ability to stand on one leg is critically connected to your feet."
— Dr. Emily SplichalShe also spoke at length about grounding, or earthing — placing bare skin in direct contact with the earth, which carries a natural negative charge, as a way of offsetting some of the inflammatory, "positive charge" load of daily stress. She pointed to research showing effects on circulation and blood viscosity, and mentioned using grounding to help reset her circadian rhythm after long-haul travel. Because most modern shoes have rubber soles that block that connection, she noted that some minimal-shoe brands now build in conductive grounding elements — a silver insole paired with carbon or copper in the outsole — so patients can get some benefit even while wearing shoes.
Inside a Regenerative Podiatry Practice: From PRP to Exosomes
Splichal has practiced regenerative podiatry for roughly a decade. Her injection approach has shifted over that time: she started with PRP, moved toward placental-based injections, and then — after FDA changes affecting placental-derived products during COVID — moved into umbilical cord and exosome-based treatments, along with growth factors and peptides. The conditions she treats this way most often include chronic plantar fasciosis (heel pain lasting more than six months that hasn't resolved with other care), plantar plate injuries (a ligament under the second toe), various neuropathies, and foot and ankle problems tied to movement disorders such as MS, Parkinson's, stroke, or spinal cord injury.
Where she says her approach differs from other providers doing similar injections is what happens afterward. She follows patients for roughly three months post-injection with a specific protocol for gradually reintroducing load to the treated tissue — rather than letting a patient go straight back to daily activity or sport on what she called "essentially virgin connective tissue." Without that step, she said, newly regenerated tissue can be overloaded quickly and the original injury can recur.
For patients dealing with neuropathy specifically — which she noted is often not reversible — her focus shifts toward nerve health support, textured and vibration-based sensory tools to help patients "wake up" and feel their feet again, and teaching better use of the toes and pelvic floor for balance. She also spoke candidly about the emotional weight that comes with a chronic or idiopathic diagnosis, and said she works with patients on separating their sense of identity from the diagnosis itself as part of supporting their overall quality of life.
Who This Conversation Is For
Splichal was direct about where regenerative podiatry fits: it's not for every patient who wants to avoid surgery, and it's meant for specific presentations rather than a blanket alternative. But she also pushed back on the idea that patients have run out of options once they've cycled through steroid injections, physical therapy, and orthotics without relief.
"There are still more options on the table than what you're being presented with."
— Dr. Emily SplichalIf you're dealing with chronic heel, ankle, or foot pain — or you're an athlete trying to stay ahead of injury rather than just recover from it — this episode is a useful, plain-language look at what a movement-first, regenerative approach to foot care actually involves, from a practitioner who treats the foot as the starting point for the whole body.
