Foot and ankle surgery, in short, is a discipline that deals with the treatment of foot and ankle disorders, including surgical and conservative treatment. In China, foot and ankle surgery is classified as a subspecialty of orthopedic surgery. I searched for the key words “foot and ankle surgery” and “orthopedics” before I put pen to paper, and the results were: there are 9 hospitals with “foot and ankle surgery” specialties in China, and there are 29 doctors specializing in foot and ankle surgery. In contrast, there are 1,529 hospitals with orthopedic departments in China, with a total of 12,036 registered orthopedic surgeons. From this disparity, we can see that the number of people who can be called foot and ankle surgery experts in China is really very rare. And this is indeed the case. Nowadays, although orthopedic science has developed greatly and new technology has spread rapidly, although county hospitals can routinely carry out complex spine and joint surgeries, it is difficult for many senior orthopedic surgeons to give a complete treatment plan for foot and ankle diseases in a clear and organized manner. We often encounter patients with chronic ankle instability due to previous ankle sprains that have not been treated properly, and they suffer from broken feet when walking on flat ground. We often encounter patients with severe foot deformities who have been referred to many hospitals, holding up thick test results and outpatient charts, confused by the different opinions of many hospitals on whether to move the bones or the tendons, and whether to do joint fusion or joint replacement. More often than not, we encounter patients seeking revision surgery after minor bunion incision due to various problems such as recurrence of deformity, metastatic metatarsalgia, bunion shortening, etc. Patients are torn between excessive fear and excessive expectation of reoperation. There are two reasons for the above phenomenon, one is the late start of foot and ankle surgery in China, so far only more than 10 years old, rich experience and cutting-edge theories are overly concentrated in a few teams, but not yet highly popularized in other orthopedic subspecialties such as trauma, joint, spine, etc.; second is the strong specialization of foot and ankle surgery, in foreign countries, it requires 4 years of science and technology, 5 years of medical science (or podiatric medicine), and 3-5 years of medical science. Secondly, foot and ankle surgery is highly specialized. Foot and ankle surgery is a combination of appearance and function. The foot is a biomechanical unit composed of 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments, and its functional complexity can be imagined. Just as there is no room for sand in the shoe, there is no shortage of examples of foot pain that makes it difficult to walk. Thus, foot pain is a big deal and foot and ankle is not a simple discipline. The foot and ankle surgeon should not only have orthopedic foundation, but also know anatomy, biomechanics, rehabilitation medicine, principle of aids and orthotics, rehabilitation medicine, physical medicine, and should teach patients how to choose shoes and orthotics and guide them in rehabilitation while removing pain. Therefore, the so-called patients are brothers of hands and feet; the so-called foot doctors are those who “treat the feet, choose shoes and show the way”. The journey of a thousand miles has begun with the foot, and there is a long road ahead, a long way to go.