Megan Brozic has taken on a role with some important shoes to fill — everyone’s.
She’s the owner of BioPed Bradford, a clinic offering pedorthic foot care and orthotic products. Town councillors, staff and members of the Bradford Board of Trade gathered for the clinic’s grand opening at 489 Holland St. W., Unit K1, on Tuesday afternoon.
As a certified pedorthist, Brozic works with her team including a registered foot-care nurse to identify and treat conditions of the lower limbs and feet by offering assessments, gait analysis, scanning and fabrication of custom orthotics, compression therapy, bracing products, orthopedic-friendly footwear and medical foot-care services.
The clinic also offers biomechanical assessments based on various tests that look at muscle strength and joint flexibility, examines joints and muscles while seated, standing and walking to determine if and where abnormal function and mechanics exists, and examines lower-limb alignment while standing and walking.
Brozic has eight years of experience as a pedorthist and previously worked at the Aurora BioPed before becoming part-owner with a group that has now expanded to Bradford.
“We’ve been wanting to open up in Bradford the last few years, but the pandemic put a little bit of a hold on that. When this location popped up, it was perfect for us. We knew Bradford was up and coming because we’ve been watching it for a while, so we’re super-excited and super-happy about the small-community feel,” she said.
In her time as a pedorthist, Brozic said the most important part for her is interacting with people from various walks of life, and helping them live a more pain-free lifestyle.
“Being able to find a solution that works best for someone and reduces their pain and enhances their daily life is my goal. I’m also a hands-on person, so I love the fact that we manufacture the orthotics. It suits my scientific arts and crafts, as I call it,” she said.
People are welcome to stop in any time the store is open to shop for footwear. Appointments are not required, but they are recommended for anyone interested in a thorough assessment.
The store has been open to customers since May, and Brozic said she’s already seeing plenty of people come in, some of whom are familiar with the BioPed brand and used to visit the location in Aurora.
Brozic also finds it important to support the local community and recently became a banner sponsor for the South Simcoe Storm U14 BB Team 1 — White.
“I really want to give back to the community as well and help out,” she said.
Like all BioPed locations, the Bradford clinic also is partnered with the not-for-profit Soles4Souls for year-round collection of used shoes from the community, which are distributed to those in need in other parts of the world.
According to the Pedorthic Association of Canada, Canadian certified pedorthists undergo a rigorous education and training process in order to be certified by the College of Pedorthics of Canada.
BioPed is a Canadian chain with more than 75 independently owned clinics.
The clinic is open Monday to Friday, but hours vary. More information is available by calling 905-775-2689 or visiting bioped.com/bradford.
