Neuromechanical adaptations in achilles tendinosis

It is not just about the tendon. A perspective on asymmetry.

We are coming back to this important article again.
When you have a tendon problem, you have other problems. There is the muscle-tendon relationship, there is the CNS component, and there are the other muscles regionally within the related loaded chains. Because of these multiple integrated components, this "illustrates the human body's capacity to adapt to tendon pathology and provide the physiological basis for intervention or prevention strategies".
"If a component in the loop loses its integrity, the entire system has to adapt to that deficiency. "
We have discussed on recent TGG podcasts this important ability of a tendon to have sufficient stiffness, to be more precise, to produce sufficient stiffness. Degenerative tendons exhibit less stiffness and so when this issue is present, we move into the adaptive strategies of the entire system that was alluded to above. Adaptation begins; agonist, synergist, antagonist muscles, CNS, motor pattern adaptive patterns ensue.
It has been suggested by this study that these compensations are unilateral, on the affected side, thus driving asymmetrical neuromechanical adaptations.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4553058/

Cannabis users walk differently.

We all have experienced or viewed the alcohol impaired gait at some point in our lives, the sloppy malcoordinated limb and torso movements. There are some classic observable characteristics there that many of us are familiar with. But what about cannabis gait ?

"The research from the University of South Australia, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, found those who smoke cannabis tend to move their shoulders less and elbows more as they walk. The pilot study also found marijuana users swing their knees more quickly during walking. The differences in gait were small and found in people who smoked a light or moderate amount of cannabis. Some changes were so small it was impossible for a specialist to detect."

However, the thing we found interesting was the papers final question, as to whether the subtle gait changes over a longer period of time would increase or become more apparent.

*We have seen this variation in arm swing gait many times before. We have discussed numerous times that when there is a reduction in the normal shoulder and pelvic "girdle" counter rotations, the normal antiphasic gait that presents us with the clearly obvious opposite arm-leg swings, we lose the ability to tap into these oscillations that afford us this free arm and leg swing. So, when these girdle rotations are reduced, the limb movement has to come from further down into the limb, from elbow movement, a sort of casting the lower arm forward from biceps and triceps activity and from a kicking forward of the lower leg from quadriceps activity instead of hip flexion-extension activity.

Gait affects everything, and everything seems to affect our gait.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/09/01/15/25/marijuana-users-walk-differently-australian-study-claims

Lumbar spine mechanics and boots

Your footwear can affect your hips and low back ? Yes.

If you have been with us even a short while, this study should be of zero new value to you. But this study looked at the ankle dorsiflexion restricting firefighting boots on the low back.
We know that there are several force dissipators in the lower limbs, those being hip flexion, knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion not to forget the all important foot pronation. When one of those is compromised, the job of that joint complex typically gets shunted elsewhere, and often proximally into the body.
Obviously, above ankle boots will restrict ankle dorsiflexion. Imagine an ice skate laced up all the way, or a ski boot, the ankle dorsiflexion virtually disappears. The came can happen in an inappropriately laced hiking boot or high ankle trail running shoe.
This will hit home the posts earlier in the week on the "z-angle" we discussed and Gray Cooks video from the weekend.
It is possible if you dial back the ankle dorsiflexion you cheat hip extension, or you make the lumbar spine extend into more lordosis than it is happy to perform.
You just cannot rob Peter to pay Paul all the time. Eventually Peter is gonna get pretty pissed.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/…/article/pii/S0003687017301333

More on the Z-angle

More on the "Z-angle". Why your hip and ankle have to talk to each other.

We have been saying this kind of stuff for years, but in this video perhaps Gray Cook says it in a way that will resonate well with some when we can be a bit too wordy at times, Gray is always eloquent and well spoken. We often discuss this ankle and glute relationship he mentions in a topic we refer to as "the Z- angle". And, we discuss the greater global ramifications of unresolved ankle sprains. Search our blog for these terms and topics.
It is rare that our in-office therapy and our corrective home work for a client does not address both the ankle and hip simultaneously. We know this tight relationship exists, and so should you.
In many of our podcasts and blog posts we pound sand on the fact that just because you have ankle mobility on the exam table does not mean you will have it available in some movement patterns or in some of your sport movements. And, ankle functional impairments are key players in multiple injuries and impaired movement patterns. We like the "software vs hardware" terminology he uses, we will be borrowing that verbiage in the future, it is a nice way to tighten up a dialogue without getting wordy. Great job as always Gray !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U93MoOxN49c

Forefoot Varus vs Forefoot Supinatus

We talked about forefoot varus, forefoot supinatus and subsequent biomechanics in a recent onlinece.com course. Here is a great commentary on a review article we discussed as well as a great explanation about thew tru differences between at forefoot varus (rare) and the more common forefoot supinatus.

Take home message? FROM THE ARTICLE:

" In summary: both look the same, but they are totally different beasts:

    a forefoot varus is bony and a forefoot supinatus is soft tissue
    a forefoot varus is a cause of ‘overpronation’ and a forefoot supinatus is the result of ‘overpronation’
    a forefoot varus is rare and a forefoot supintus is common
    a forefoot varus cannot be corrected and a forefoot supinatus can be corrected"

http://www.runresearchjunkie.com/the-effect-of-forefoot-varus-on-the-hip-and-knee-and-the-effect-of-the-hip-and-knee-on-forefoot-supinatus/

A shoe inside a shoe ? . . . yup !

Have you ever used a "shoe in a shoe" to solve a problem? We did and it was magical ! (see photo below)

2 things you may have missed last night if you were not on our seminar call at onlineCE.com. but no worries, we had the course recorded, look for Biomechanics 323 in a week or so. It is in our catalogue of courses, you can take them all and go deep down the Gait Guys rabbit hole any day of the week ! If you can't find the rabbit hole, message us or email us.