Melissa C. Verde, DPM, be­gan practicing podiatry in 2002, opened a Longwood office in 2005, and last January moved to a new Longwood location. The new office offers patients many new conveniences, including more parking near the entrance. And a first-floor office is a benefit to patients with limited walking ability.

While the new space is configured more efficiently, not much else has changed. Verde still shares the office with Dr. Dacia Milescu. Two podiatrists means patients can be treated by a qualified, experienced podiatrist at Verde Podiatry every weekday.

A graduate of UCF and the Dr. William M. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine, Verde focuses on common conditions such as bunions, hammertoes, heel pain and metatarsal fractures. She cautions anyone with chronic foot problems not to put off seeing a doctor: foot ailments sometimes indicate a much larger issue. For example, diabetes, gout and rheumatoid arthritis are systemic, but one of the first complaints is often a foot problem.

Perhaps the best thing about the new office is its one-stop holistic approach. Milescu also runs the Serenity Now Yoga, a holistic wellness center next door, which offers a variety of yoga and dance classes including Zumba, Bollywood and belly dancing.

Milescu shares the Serenity Now side of the building with Jesenia Gorzon, a licensed massage therapist, and the Back2Health Pain and Wellness Center of Ovid Regos, DC, and Victor Modesto, MD.

Patients with plantar fasciitis experience heel pain in their Achilles tendons, says Verde, and need to stretch their tendons. "So the yoga end of the business works with those patients to increase their flexibility. And deep tissue massage can help, too. My diabetic patients need to control their weight, so the dance and yoga classes are convenient for [them]."

Her treatment philosophy is to find conservative and preventive measures to alleviate pain first. Having a holistic wellness center and the pain center adjacent to her office offers her patients convenience, flexibility and therapeutic options.

Melissa C. Verde Podiatry
1385 W. SR 434, Ste. 103, Longwood; 407.332.6700; verdepodiatry.com.

Serenity Now Yoga, 407.695.1980; serenitynowyogacorp.com.

Jesenia Gorzon Massage Therapy, 407.383.3855.

Back2Health Pain and Wellness Center, 407.658.0000; Back2Healthllc.com.

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