You can almost hear the thump, thump of feet striding across the screen at Footcare Express as Charles Mutschler peers at the picture, scrutinizing the gait.

“Here’s one. See how the outside of the foot almost doesn’t touch,” said Mutschler, a podiatrist, as he pointed at a pair of feet that tilt inward over the arch.

Spotting problems in a patient’s gait using video motion analysis is one of the ways the specialists at Footcare Express diagnose and treat foot, leg and muscular-skeletal problems. Mutschler, who is the medical director at Footcare Express, watches a lot of patients’ leg and feet videos.

Besides video analysis, Footcare Express podiatrists also use X-rays and ultrasound to diagnose and treat problems.

Sandwiched between Publix and CVS at a shopping mall in Aventura, Footcare Express places under one roof a retail store, a center for podiatry consultations and a manufacturing site for corrective inserts, which are known as orthotics.

The company is owned by Harold Reinhartz, a podiatrist, and his son Jarett Reinhartz, who is a pedorthist — a specialist who fits and makes correctional inserts or specially fitted shoes.

Podiatry — the treatment of problems of the foot — is a growing business because of the burgeoning demand for corrective inserts to improve sports performance or reduce pain in the feet, legs or even lower back.

WIDESPREAD DEMAND
Those turning to podiatry include top athletes striving for peak performance, weekend runners trying to avoid pain, overweight Americans, fashionistas seeking repairs after a steady foot diet of Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik stilettos and just ordinary people.

The human foot, with its 26 bones, was actually designed to go barefoot and accommodate the ground, not be squeezed into pointy toes or perched on platforms, said Mutschler.

Although people tend to neglect their feet, the number of people turning to podiatry is rising and that’s been good for Footcare Express.

The vertically integrated company was the brainchild of Jarett Reinhartz, who established it six years ago after working in his father’s office and with another set of partners.

His father had podiatry practices in Kissimmee and Winter Park that he sold before moving to South Florida.

Reinhartz said the company’s revenue rose after major insurance companies began to accept claims.

BIG BOOST
“We managed to get on all the major plans and that was a huge, huge plus,” Reinhartz said. The company doubled its revenue last year to about $1 million in annual sales.

“This year we expect to do a lot more than that,” Reinhartz said, adding that a growing part of the company’s business — about 40 percent of revenue — comes from working with sports teams such as the Miami Heat, Florida Marlins and Miami Dolphins on diagnosis, rehabilitation and orthotics.

“We work with the team; the doctors will take their casts and we will manufacture the orthotics,” Reinhartz said.

Besides fabricating orthotics for professional teams all over the country, Footcare Express podiatrists serve the college teams at St. Thomas University and the University of Central Florida. They also have associations with other universities and professional sports teams.

Mutschler said he became interested in the sports work because he did his residency with the team podiatrist for The Heat.

SPREADING THE WORD
The company has tried other marketing techniques, such as attending trade shows and conventions and showing up at the Miami Marathon two years in a row to do screenings.

Reinhartz said many runners are surprised to learn that pain is avoidable. “You should have soreness but not pain,” he said.

Podiatrists treat a range of foot problems, from corns, calluses and ingrown toenails, bunions and fallen arches to the more severe problems of weak feet associated with diabetes or deformities that may require specially made braces or footwear. Footcare Express can take care of all these problems.

Among the conditions that orthotics can help is plantar fasciitis, when the tough connective tissue on the bottom of the foot has been injured so there is pain stepping on the foot.

Footcare Express specializes in specially fabricated orthotics that can run as high as $200 to $500 without insurance.

Some women would like to see less bulky inserts that will offer arch support for heels and when wearing sandals.

Reinhartz said that kind of product would be difficult to make, but added: “The person who invents that will be a very wealthy person.”