Podcast #11: Walking and Ozzy

http://thegaitguys.libsyn.com/podcast-11-walking-and-ozzy

Topics and Show Notes:

- Flips Flops, Walking Biomechanics, Minimalism Shoe Formula

Payloadz link for our DVD’s and efile downloads: http://store.payloadz.com/results/results.asp?m=80204

1- NEUROSCIENCE PIECE: Walking Statistics

2- Email from a Facebook Follower:
Hey guys, I was wondering if you had any links to articles about the effects of open back shoes on gait?  All I can seem to find are articles about flip flops, which I know have the similar effect, however some of my collegues don’t agree with that, so I was hoping to help inform them on the effects of the open back shoes/sandals on gait function.
 Thanks for your time,Tyler

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22185067
http://www.webmd.com/healthy-beauty/features/worst-shoes-for-your-feet?page=3

3- DISCLAIMER:
We are not your doctors so anything you hear here should not be taken as medical advice. For that you need to visit YOUR doctors and ask them the questions. We have not examined you, we do not know you, we know very little about your medical status. So, do not hold us responsible for taking our advice when we have just told you not to !  Again, we are NOT your doctors !

4-  Updates and Sponsor talk:

A-  more lectures available  on www.onlineCE.com   Go there and look up our lectures

B- In January we will be taking on sponsors for our podcast.  We have had some interest already but we wanted to work out the quality control issues first. Early in means savings.

Contact us if you would like to be a sponsor……If we believe your product has value to this listener community we will give you a professional and personalized company or product plug and advertisment.  From our lips to our listeners ears ! 
We will basically expose your product to our international fan base.
The sponsors will help make our mission possible, defray costs and time to put out this podcast and blog. These things take is away from our practices a little.  Each week we will have 2 center-Stage sponsors . Your sponsorship can run as long as you want.

5-  Mail from an International Follower of our Blog:

Hi Dr’s,
Im here again. Just a quick question about functional LLD’s again. As you said before, most people who have a LLD are functional, but what causes such an apparent problem? What muscles are affected? Also, what exercises do you do to start to fix a functional LLD?

Thanks again for your reply and the attachment. It would be great if you could put it on a future podcast, I am keeping up with them. I’m a little sad as the first thing I check on facebook each day is what you guys have put on. The seminar over here is still a possibility, I was thinking about coming out to you guys first if that’s a possibility to learn direct? Have you thought about trying to do the fitness conventions? Experts like paul chek, Charles Poliquin, Gary Gray amongst others have been very successful and made a lot of money doing this. Gary Gray has done a huge dvd educational series and offers an internship out of his house, which he does once per year and is always full. I personally know 12 people from this country that have done it. Regarding your comment on facebook, I find the case studies more educational than anything else you put on there as it directly relates to my clients, but I have to keep watching them to fully appreciate what your saying. I can imagine most trainers just want quick fixes and new exercises they can give their clients as they are easy to understand. What are your sales of case studies on the onlice CEC compared to your performance downloads?  I can imagine not as many?   Kind Regards,   Luke

6- EMAIL FROM A Blog follower: 
Dear GaitGuys, on the video “Doing Squats, Lunges as well as Walking and Running using the Big Toe Ineffectively.”, I would like your opinion on the participation of the intrinsic (lumbricals) muscles, in stabilizing the proximal phalanx when we activate the FHL. I would consider it important, would be pleased to hear your opinion on it. Thanks, keep up the good work! Regards,  - Claudio

7- Blog READER EMAIL:
 field100 asked you:
Hi I wondered whether you could point me to the best exercises to increase strength and arch in the foot - I am flat footed. Also would you recommend the use of vivobarefoot shoes or the like to increase overall strength in the foot and ankle. thanks

 8- Blog post we liked recently
Minimalism: Is there a formula?
On one of our many forays into cyberspace, we ran across this easy to understand formula, from one of our friends Blaise Dubois. After we contacted him, he allowed us to reprint it here, for your enjoyment. Thank You Blaise!

Today, we propose a new formula so that you can rate your running shoes on a scale from 1 to 100 (100 being “extremely minimalist” -bare feet- and 1 “extremely maximalist”). The range of variation of your final rating will be more or less 5 points regardless of the comfort criteria, which is subjective. The only thing you need to do is to choose a language, then select the tab of your country at the bottom of the formula page, rate your shoes on the 6 criteria set out and there you go! Please note that we have used average values for criteria to which you don’t have the information. The multiple formats of the formula for every country are represented in accordance with their measuring system, currency and the average selling price of a running shoe for each of these countries.

As for health professionals and scientists, you will see that weighting factors have been applied to all criteria as a function of their importance, which is their effect on the body (biomechanics, tissue adaptation, etc.)
You can now rate your running shoes based upon The Running Clinic’s “TRC Rating” methodology!

12 - Email from a Blog Reader

hoblingoblin asked you:
I have a very strange gait problem that has caused me a great deal of problems in my everyday life. I get a painful, loud snap somewhere in my tarsal tunnel (Post tib, FDL, or something) as I try to control my foot descent from heel strike to midstance and also sometimes as I try to plantar flex at toe off. My ankle also feels kinda loose. I’ve seen multiple ankle specialists who don’t really have answers for me. Any thoughts?        

Category
Educational

What do you think of when you watch Zsa Zsa Gabor walk , or a woman like “Madeline” describes in this post?

Hip swing.

Yup, like it or leave it. It is here to stay. And evidently. It makes women more attractive to men (or more likely to attract a mate, click here to read our post on that).

So the question is, Why?

Besides the aesthetically pleasing aspect of this, it is most likely biomechanics. Women (generally) have

a. wider hips,

b. more femoral anteversion (or ante torsion) and

c. an increased Q angle.

This means more:

a. lateral displacement of the pelvis,

b. more internal and less external hip rotation available and

c. more lateral displacement again, with increased demand on the gluteus medius, due to the anatomical attachments.

Yup, there usually is a reason and it is often biomechanical, not aesthetics.

The Gait Guys. Ivo and Shawn. Gait Geeks to the core!

Gait Differences between men and women

J Womens Health Gend Based Med. 2002 Jun;11(5):453-8. Gender differences in pelvic motions and center of mass displacement during walking: stereotypes quantified. Smith LK, Lelas JL, Kerrigan DC. Source

Center for Rehabilitation Science, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Abstract OBJECTIVES:

A general perception that women and men walk differently has yet to be supported by quantitative walking (gait) studies, which have found more similarities than differences. Never previously examined, however, are pelvic and center of mass (COM) motions. We hypothesize the presence of gender differences in both pelvic obliquity (motion of the pelvis in the coronal plane) and vertical COM displacement. Quantifiable differences may have clinical as well as biomechanical importance.

METHODS:

We tested 120 subjects separated into four groups by age and gender. Pelvic motions and COM displacements were recorded using a 3-D motion analysis system and averaged over three walking trials at comfortable walking speed. Data were plotted, and temporal values, pelvic angle ranges, and COM displacements normalized for leg length were quantitatively compared among groups.

RESULTS:

Comparing all women to all men, women exhibited significantly more pelvic obliquity range (mean ISD): 9.4 +/- 3.5 degrees for women and 7.4 +/- 3.4 degrees for men (p = 0.0024), and less vertical COM displacement: 3.7 +/- 0.8% of leg length for women and 3.3 +/- 0.9% for men (p = 0.0056).

CONCLUSIONS:

Stereotypically based gender differences were documented with greater pelvic obliquity and less vertical COM displacement in women compared with men. It is unclear if these differences are the intrinsic result of gender vs. social or cultural effects. It is possible that women use greater pelvic motion in the coronal plane to reduce their vertical COM displacement and, thus, conserve energy during walking. An increase in pelvic obliquity motion may be advantageous from an energy standpoint, but it is also associated with increased lumbosacral motion, which may be maladaptive with respect to the etiology and progression of low back pain.

Policing Gait on the Web

There is some decent information here but we do have some issues with this video. We were asked on our Facebook PAGE to talk about our thoughts on this piece.  We are not trying to criticize anyone, merely helping to keep the information accurate on the web:

1. They are promoting external rotation of the limb into the ground. They refer to this as “screwing” (as they put it) the foot into the ground. The issues here are that the foot supinates when you do this and when you do this too far you weight bear on the lateral foot and disengage the medial foot tripod. They do refer to limits on this but we need to heighten the awareness here. Someone with a forefoot valgus will go to far most likely, and someone with a forefoot varus will disengage the medial tripod quickly.  Most people will also disengage the FHB (flexor hallucis brevis) quickly during this “screwing” technique.  Furthermore, people can also become too dependent on their glutes to hold the “screwed” or supinated position and this is not a safe and reasonable way to support the limb and pelvic posturing. We see this as a very detrimental strategy when sustained PPT (Posterior Pelvic Tilt) is maintained during gait and stance.  There needs to be help from the lower abdominals and adductors as well.   Their “20%” torque is a nice mention and may help many to keep this moderate but this is really dependent on foot type and tibial torsion issues which are not discussed here. As always, not everything fixes everyone, and some things go against an admirable intention.  No digs against these nice fellas, we are just stating what we feel are critical facts not discussed. We watched part 2 and 3 in the hopes of hearing about these issues above, but they were not discussed. We wanted to comment on the videos but they have disabled the comments on youtube.

2. This posturing promotes knee hyperextension which is never good. Go ahead, try it yourself.  You cannot employ a whole lot of this external screwing during gait without changing the knee biomechanics into the hyperextension direction.  It is another reason we mention a caveat here.  If you try it, just pay close attention to what you are doing. You may try to get around the hyperextenion by dropping the pelvis anterior, disengaging your abdominals and changing hip and low back function. 

3. Merely doing what they propose here does not necessarily ramp up the intrinsic muscles of the feet (4:00 mark).  They can remain silent in this maneuver.  Keeping the toes pressed might be more productive to this end.

We watched part 2 and 3 of their Rebuilding the Foot youtube videos and frankly they just scare us a little (go ahead have a look yourself) so we will not comment on anything there. Although we strongly do not advise many of their recommendations in either part 2 or 3 for our clients you may find some stuff you like here … . . heck, who are we to say what you will be willing to try !

To each his own. We give these guys mad props for putting themselves on the net and trying to share their info.  It takes guts to put your stuff on the web, we hope they will enable the comments section so productive dialogues can ensue there in the future.

Shawn and Ivo

Is Your Foot Tripod Stable Enough to Walk or Run without Injury or Problem ?

The all to common case of the Wobbling Tripod.

Note the music we have chosen today. We tried to match the rate of the dancing tibialis anterior tendon to the tempo of the song, just for fun of course. Well, actually, for neurological reasons as well, as with a steady tempo or beat, your nervous system can learn better. Why do you think we teach kids songs to learn (or you can’t get the theme from the “Jetsons” out of your head).

This is a great video. This client has an obvious problem stabilizing the foot tripod during single leg stance as seen here.  There is also evidence of long term tripod problems by the degree of redness and size (although difficult to see on this plane of view) of the medial metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint (the MPJ or big knuckle joint) just proximal to the big toe.  This is the area of the METatarsal head, the medial aspect of the foot tripod.

As this client moves slowly from stance into a mild single leg squat knee bend the challenges to the foot’s stability, the tripod, become obvious.  Stability is under duress. There is much frontal plane “Checking” or shifting and the tibial and body mass is rocking back and forth on a microscopic level as evidenced by the dancing tibialis tendon at the ankle level.  The medial foot tripod is loading and unloading multiple times a second. 

Is it any shock to you that this person has chronic foot problems which are exacerbated by running ?  Every time this foot hits the ground the foot is trying to find stability. The medial tripod fails and the big knuckle joint (the 1st MPJ or big toe joint) is enlarging from inflammation, uncontrolled loading through the joint, and early cartilage wear and decay, not to mention the knee falling medially to the foot line as well.  Hallux limitus (turf toe) is subclinical at this time, but it is on the menu for a later date. A dorsal crown of osteophytes (the turf toe ridge on the top of the foot) is developing steadily, soon to block out the range necessary for adequate toe off in this client.  And that means a limitation in  hip extension sometime down the road (and premature heel rise……. did you read Wednesday’s blog post on that topic ?).

*addendum:

Take the time to develop the skill. We ask our clients to work on standing with the toes up to find a clean tripod and do some shallow squats working on holding the tripod quietly. Be sure your glutes are in charge, spin of the limb is in part controlled at the core-hip level so that can a primary location to hunt as well. Eventually work into toes pressed flat but be sure the tripod is still valid, esp the medial tripod. Don’t be what Dr. Allen refers to as a “knuckle popper”. No toe curling/hammering either. Keep that glute on. Move the swing leg forward during a lunge, and then behind you during a squat (mimicking early and late midstance phases of gait/running). This will help your brain realize when it needs this stability and it will also act to press you off balance and will make the foot check and challenge. Do this until you feel the foot fatigue on the bottom. Then Stop. Repeat later. If the medial tripod collapses, the knee will drop inwards and excess pronation is inevitable. We modified this with our prescription of the “100 ups”…..combine the two !

Shawn and Ivo … .  comfortably numb.

Once you have been to the Dark Side of the Moon  (and hopefully you didn’t have any Brain Damage) you will know it well and know what to expect when you return again.  Meaning, when you have seen these issues over and over again, hopefully in your daily work if not regularly here at The Gait Guys, you will quickly know what things to assess and look for in your athletes.  And you might just turn into a Pink Floyd fan at the same time, or at least crave some Figgy Pudding (but you have to eat yer’ meat! How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat  yer’ meat?).

READY

A little beach forensics, anyone?

As far as we know, there is only one shoe that makes a print like this one. You guessed it, a Newton (great going guys! You are all the way out here on the east coast!). We are pretty sure it is an MV2, because it has 5 actuator lugs. (Danny, Ian, Jordan, please feel free to chime in!)

Look at the top left and right images; left is running, right appears to be walking or a midfoot strike). What do you see? One foot imprint (the left) is accentuated and they are a forefoot striker. We are pretty sure this is how Newton encourages folks to run and if you have ever been in the shoe, you know it is pretty rockered and pushes you on to your toes.

Now look at the images that compare left to right. Notice how the outside of the forefoot makes a deeper impression on the left? Looks like that lateral column is sinking in the sand more. What type of forefoot type may cause this? You guessed it, a forefoot varus!. The forefoot is striking (and coming off the ground) in more supination on the left than the right.

Anything else? what about that right foot in the top right image? More printing on the medial aspect. Hmmm, maybe some increased forefoot pronation or possibly some forefoot valgus.

You could argue that due to the slop on the beach, we may be seeing this…and that would be a good argument, except that these are on the flats and repeat for many cycles.

Yup, we probably should be looking at all stuff north of the feet on the beach, but hey, we ARE geeks and “feet” are our thing.

The Gait Guys. Yes, we are always watching!…Even at the beach!

copyright 2012 The Gait Guys/The Homunculus Group. Al rights reserved. If you want to use our stuff, just ask nicely : )

Abnormal wear pattern on a Newton Shoe

Understanding what went wrong in this runner to cause unilateral Right shoe “toe off” wear pattern is important.  It happens alot.  Many times it doesn’t get this far but there is evidence on a shoe, more on one side, none the less.  It is quite often “What is wrong with the part/person that goes into a shoe”, than “the shoe itself”. It wasn’t the Newton Shoe in this case (it is almost never a shoe material issue), it was the limb attached to it. The shoes are the window to the gait cycle!

This is one of our running clients.  They presented with some right hamstring soreness and pain after longer runs.  There were no foot complaints, the shoe wear pattern was just something that we felt was interesting to share as it made sense with their clinical presentation. 

Client clinically demonstrated:

1. inhibited right glute max
2. tight right quadriceps
3. weak right lower abdominals

Summary:

Subsequent to #1-3 above there was a loss of right hip extension, thus shortened right stride. When hip extension is limited the heel rise is premature and the calf engagement can be premature. When premature the calf is asked to lift the person during midstance instead of forward propulsion and its other activities during late midstance.

Premature heel rise, premature calf muscle engagement, premature foot plantarflexion all lead to greater pressure at the forefoot and thus through toe off……plus some hamstrings complaining as well !

Knowing your gait cycles, knowing which muscles should fire at a given time in the gait cycle, and knowing why they fire and what joints they stabilize is a valuable tool in diagnosis of a runners issues.  Of course, it would be very simple to say “hey, you are toeing off real hard on that right side”.  “BRILLIANT SHERLOCK ! ” would be our first response, there is nothing like stating the obvious.  But the how and why is where the brain actually needs to be engaged, and when it is, things can get very interesting and fun in figuring out what is going on in athletes and patients. Knowing how and why things happen allows you to fix the problem.  And in this case if you are attempting to fix this person at the level of the foot you are missing the true problem originating at the hip.  And when you know the origin of the problem in this case, you also get a new shoe wear pattern for the next shoes and best of all, you conquer a chronic  hamstring problem as well.

Shawn and Ivo………. Pipe smoking English sleuths…….. (OK, we are good at the board game CLUE and nothing more, who are we kidding !)

What do you see? A pedograph analysis

You have heard us time and time again talking about pedographs. When our site finally relaunches, we will have a link for you to be able to purchase one if you like. They really are indispensable and are a window to the gait cycle. In a retail setting, they are an excellent sales tool. With practice, they are a valuable asset to your skill set. As you look at more and more of them, they become easier to interpret in light of what you are seeing when you evaluate the individual.

So what do we see here?

Let’s divide the foot into 3 sections: the rear foot, the mid foot and the fore foot.

First of all, are they symmetrical? Look carefully at the fore foot on each side. NO! the right foot looks different than the left, so we are looking at asymmetrical pathology.

Let’s start at the rear foot: Left looks relatively normal; Right shows some artifact from either the sock, pants being stepped on, or perhaps a heel smudge. More pressure at the medial calcaneal facet on the right as well (more ink = more pressure). The shapes are relatively symmetrical, so equal amounts of rear foot pronation (or motion)

Next up, the mid foot. similar shapes, more pressure and printing on the right. Why? Increased weighting, maybe a leg length deficiency.

How about the fore foot? Lots going on here.

Let’s start with the right foot.

The forces should be coming across from right to left (lateral to medial). See the gap in printing between the lesser metatarsal heads and the big toe? Can you see how the printing under the great toe is further back than you would expect? This tells you the force is behind the head of the 1st metatarsal, not on it. This is a cardinal sign of a partially compensated forefoot varus (in other words, the individual can only partially get the head of the 1st metatarsal down to the ground). this printing is due to the soft tissue around the toe being pressed into the ground.

How about those toes? See the dark printing at the most medial aspect of the great toe? this is most likely caused by a callus. See how it spreads laterally? This is the area of the flexor hallucis brevis insertion, and ink here means it is firing. Now look at the increased printing of the 2nd and 4th toes. They are gripping (via flexor digitorum longus) to attempt to stabilize the foot.

How about the left foot? Different than the right. A similiar pattern for mets 2-4 that we saw on the right BUT look at the at 1st metatarsal! WOW, is it printing alot! This means that 1st met head is being driven into the ground pretty hard. It is probably accompanied by pain. This persons 1st metatarsal is making a medial tripod, but perhaps too much so. You usually see this type of printing in someone who has an uncompensated fore foot valgus (forefoot everted with respect to rear foot) or a plantar flexed 1st ray deformity (in other words, the 1st metatarsal is “stuck:” in a downward position).

How about the gripping of the 4 lesser toes? Trying to stabilize that foot, no doubt, as it will be trying to tip to the outside (rather than the inside, like we often see).

What about that big toe? This results from the foot being turned outward and the individual rolling off of the medial aspect of the great toe. It is too far medial and toward the edge of the big to for the flexor hallucis brevis tendon.

Lots of info. Were you able to see most of what we were talking about? Perfect practice makes perfect!

Want to know more? Get a pedograph! Want to find out more about interpretation? We literally wrote the book. Get your copy by clicking here.

The Gait Guys. Spread the feet, spread the word! Increasing the understanding of gait, one post at time.

all material copyright 2012 The Gait Guys/The Homunculus Group. If you want to use our stuff, please ask and give us credit.

Foot Talk

It’s all about communication. In this case, compartmental communication. There has not been alot on consensus about how many compartments the foot has, but it is known that all the compartments talk to one another. This study identified six compartments: dorsal, medial, lateral, superficial central, deep forefoot, and deep hindfoot. It goes on to say: Communication was evident between the deep hindfoot compartment and the superficial central and deep central forefoot compartments.

This should not be that surprising. In this case, the deep hindfoot intrinsic muscles would include the quadratus plantae (seen above attaching to the calcaneus), which augments the pull of the long the long flexor muscles and helps to keep the toes flat on the ground.

The superficial central compartment would include the short flexors (flexor digitorum brevis), another stance phase muscle that is also important in keeping the toes flat on the ground.

The deep central forefoot compartment would include the transverse head of the adductor hallucis. important in maintaining 1st ray stability and keeping the head of the 1st metatarsal on the ground and maintaining an adequate foot tripod.

Another point worth mentioning was this: In the hindfoot, the neurovascular bundles were located in separate tissue sheaths between the central hindfoot compartment and the medial compartment. In the forefoot, the medial and lateral bundles entered the deep central forefoot compartment.

This tells us that in the rearfoot, the important neurology is in the muscles which help to invert the rearfoot, and help create supination. In the central forefoot, information is fed from the lateral and medial aspects of the foot tripod to the transverse head of the adductor longus. this muscle, when biomechanics are appropriate and the head of the 1st metatarsal is anchored, assists in supination. It seems all roads leaad to assisting in supination and propelling us forward in the gravitational plane…

Communication. Not just for interpersonal relationships : )

The Gait Guys: communicating with you daily and keeping you current on all things feet.

Surg Radiol Anat. 2012 May 26. [Epub ahead of print] Compartments of the foot: topographic anatomy. Faymonville C, Andermahr J, Seidel U, Müller LP, Skouras E, Eysel P, Stein G. Source

Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, University Hospital of Cologne, Kerpener Str. 62, 50924, Cologne, Germany, christoph@faymonville.de.

Abstract

Recent publications have renewed the debate regarding the number of foot compartments. There is also no consensus regarding allocation of individual muscles and communication between compartments. The current study examines the anatomic topography of the foot compartments anew using 32 injections of epoxy-resin and subsequent sheet plastination in 12 cadaveric foot specimens. Six compartments were identified: dorsal, medial, lateral, superficial central, deep forefoot, and deep hindfoot compartments. Communication was evident between the deep hindfoot compartment and the superficial central and deep central forefoot compartments. In the hindfoot, the neurovascular bundles were located in separate tissue sheaths between the central hindfoot compartment and the medial compartment. In the forefoot, the medial and lateral bundles entered the deep central forefoot compartment. The deep central hindfoot compartment housed the quadratus plantae muscle, and after calcaneus fracture could develop an isolated compartment syndrome.

Welcome to Friday, Fellow Foot Aficionado’s

Beware of Geeks wearing lifts!

Have a great weekend!

Ivo and Shawn

Supination, anyone? The importance of the calcaneocuboid locking mechanism.

Pronation gets all the press; but what about its yin counterpart, supination? There could not be one without the other.

Pronation is dorsiflexion, eversion and abduction of the foot. It provides shock absorption. Supination is plantar flexion, inversion and adduction. It make the foot into a rigid lever so we can GO (Like in Theo Selig’s “Go Dig Go”. OK, I have been reading that to my kids alot lately…)

Locking of the lateral column of the foot (4th and 5th metatarsal, cuboid and calcaneus) is a necessary prerequisite for normal force transmission through the foot and ultimately placing weight on the head of the 1st metatarsal for proper toe off. Locking of the lateral column minimizes muscular strain as the musculature (soleus, peroneus longus and brevis, EHL, EDL, FDL and FHL) is usually not strong enough to perform the job on its own.

The peroneus longus tendon wraps around the cuboid (and the brevis attaches to the base of the 1st metatarsal) on its way to insert onto the base of the 1st metatarsal. When it contracts, it dorsiflexes and everts the cuboid, which, along with the soleus (which plantar flexes and inverts the subtalar joint) allows dorsiflexion of 4th and 5th metatarsals and “locks” the lateral column.  Without this mechanism, there is no locking. Without locking, there is no supination. Without supination, there is little rigidity and inefficient propulsion.

The calcaneo cuboid locking mechanism. Another cool thing you learned about gait today from The Gait Guys.

all material copyright 2012 The Homunculus Group/The Gait Guys. All rights reserved. If you use our stuff without asking us, we will find you and put valgus wedges in all your shoes.

Podcast #10: In the Running.

Podcast #10 is Live !

*Call to action ! If you like this podcast, think of some friends and colleagues who might enjoy it…… and consider sending it their way !

This link will get you a nicely laid out “show notes” and pod player.

http://thegaitguys.libsyn.com/webpage/podcast-10-in-the-running

and this one will get you to the show player of ALL of our podcasts.
http://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/thegaitguys

Here are the show liner notes:

Payloadz link for our DVD’s and efile downloads: http://store.payloadz.com/results/results.asp?m=80204

1- NEUROSCIENCE PIECE: In the Running. Much thanks to our friends Nadia, Jennifer, Jad and Robert over at www.radiolab.org and “Radiolab: The Podcast” over on iTunes for giving us written permission to reproduce this awesome podcast named “Shorts: in the Running” from April 2011. Please visit their website. It is awesome !


2- Email from a Facebook Follower:

Hi there - I did a google search for “turned out foot” and came across your youtube video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DE5VPxJOMU  I have this issue but I don’t think it is from a weak glut (although possibly could be, not sure). In the text, it mentions “looking at another case” as well as more info about this on your blog but I’m having trouble finding it. could you refer me to the right page? Also, where are you located?
thanks for the informative blog!!- Kim

3- DISCLAIMER:
We are not your doctors so anything you hear here should not be taken as medical advice. For that you need to visit YOUR doctors and ask them the questions. We have not examined you, we do not know you, we know very little about your medical status. So, do not hold us responsible for taking our advice when we have just told you not to !  Again, we are NOT your doctors !

4-  Updates and Sponsor talk:
A-  more lectures available  on www.onlineCE.com   Go there and look up our lectures
 
B- In January we will be taking on sponsors for our podcast.  We have had some interest already but we wanted to work out the quality control issues first. Early in means savings. 
Contact us if you would like to be a sponsor……If we believe your product has value to this listener community we will give you a professional and personalized company or product plug and advertisment.  From our lips to our listeners ears ! 
We will basically expose your product to our international fan base.
 The sponsors will help make our mission possible, defray costs and time to put out this podcast and blog. These things take is away from our practices a little.  Each week we will have 2 center-Stage sponsors . Your sponsorship can run as long as you want.

5-  Mail from an International Follower of our Blog:
Hi there,
I was hoping you might settle a debate I had with a physiotherapist about the efficiency of movement.

I argued that a running gait is a more efficient way of moving over distance because of less vertical ground reactive forces acting on the body during a running gait. I concluded that our natural environment requires us to run rather than walk as predation of non-sebatious hominids gives us the advantage of stamina rather than explosive speed.
The counter argument was that walking generates less metabolic demand therefore increases efficiency of movement. But I don’t think this is true in terms of calories/mile.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks! -Jesse, Luxumborg

http://www.runningplanet.com/training/running-versus-walking.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1283673/

running on feet: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100212092304.htm


6- EMAIL FROM A COACH: 
Do all the running form clinics have value ? It seems that you can teach someone what they believe is better form, but what if they do not have the anatomy to embrace that form you have taught ? What if they are weak in that form, might they build a compensation in that new form ?  It seems to me that merely adopting an apparently better running form does not necessarily mean one will be less injury prone.
-Thx Anonymous

TGG: midfoot strike, avoid heel strike.
Our beef is that No, not one, running form clinic we have seen talks about your anatomy such as"

- know your foot type
-know if you have tib torsion or torsional issues that will challenge patellar tracking and glute use (versions)
- know what your ankle rocker is like
- can you adopt forefoot strike ? midfoot strike?
- can you go into minimalism ? Ankle rocker ?  (patient with fusion)
-
vimeo: http://vimeo.com/40442384
by NakedRunnersTV Plus 5 months ago. An insight into the thoughts & experiences related to running & running barefoot, by Kenyan-based running coach, Rob Higley. Taken from the evening seminar held in Newcastle’s E10 (Hamilton Baptist) Church in Feb, 2012.

7- READER EMAIL:
    My name is Robert and am retired from the Navy.  I have chronic dorsal foot pain on my left foot and am tired of dealing with Podiatrists and Orthopedic doctors who just want to put you in orthotics.  I no longer wear orthotics just the Prokinetic 6mm inserts.  I have become extremely interested in your posts and would like to seek further help.  I live in the upstate SC and my question is could you direct me to a doctor that utilizes your techniques and would be in close proximity to my location.  I have some pretty interesting feet that I’ve ignored for far too long and am now paying the price.  Just from watching your video’s I have multiple issues that I need to address, I just don’t know how. (Collapsed arch and Mallet Toe on left foot,  Hammer Toes, Crossover Toe (No Bunion yet), Splayed 4th & 5th Meta on the right foot). I have Morton Foot Anatomy with 1st MPJ being about ½ inch shorter than 2nd meta.  All this together with low back pain, neck pain, forward head posture, and I waddle when I walk.  I’m really looking for someone to help me put it all together so I can figure out how to fix myself.  Getting a lot harder to run around with my 10 year old boy.  Any referrals or help would be greatly appreciated.

8- Blog post we liked recently:

The Pedograph

09- Our dvd’s and efile downloads
Are all on payloadz. Link is in the show notes.
Link: http://store.payloadz.com/results/results.asp?m=80204
 

10 - Email from a Field Doctor
Hi guys,
Do you have any clever exercises for getting someone to initiate swing phase with abs instead of psoas?
I wanted to check and see if you had any suggestions.
Hope you’re well!
We withheld the name

OUR RESPONSE:

1- first trick is to make sure they can supinate the stance foot and initiate external rotation from lower in the stance leg
2- make sure all external rotators are available……otherwise the hip-pelvis and abdominals will not get the clean signal to prepare
3- look for any functional or anatomical limitations to #1 and #2……such as forefoot varus, valgus, sustained pronation issues, genu valgus etc……
4- seated marches……..  sit in neutral spine/neutral pelvis…..ie. neutral lordosis……sit on two points of ischeal tuberosities……..hands in front like frankenstein…….. press one foot into the ground while the other thigh is lifted…….this must be done on an exhale to help drop the ribcage…….be sure the lift leg thigh does not rock back the pelvis on that side or lose the lordosis.  Doctor finger on the lordosis will queue them not to change spine angle……..if they do it right they will feel the lower abdominal fire first…….if they lose the pelvis or lordosis (ie. let them drop into lumbar kyphosis slump) they will only feel the hip flexor and quad lifting the leg which for most is easier but wrong
5- add challenge………put hands over head and repeat…..
6- pray  :-)

So what can you tell us about this foot?

Hmmm. Pedograph again….You guys must think this is important, eh? You bet!  The best $150 dollars you will spend and one of the best education (and sales) tool you can buy.

So, back to the foot. Lets divide it into 3 sections; the rearfoot, the midfoot and the forefoot.

What do we see in the rearfoot? plenty of pronation, that’s for sure. How do you know? Look at the width of the print and the elongation of the heel print medially; ideally it is shaped like a teardrop. You would expect to see the calcaneus tipped into valgus (eversion) wile standing. What else? A heavy heel strike; look at all that ink!

Next, the midfoot; Lots of printing here = lots of midfoot pronation. Look at how the 2nd and 3rd cunieforms and cuboid print. This much ink under the cuboid means that the peroneus is having a hard time everting and assisting in supination  of the foot.

The forefoot? We see ink under met heads 2, 3 and 5, but not under 1.Looks like they can’t get the head of the 1st metatarsal down. This would lead us to believe they have an uncompensated forefoot varus (forefoot inverted with respect to the rearfoot). What about the toes? looks like overactivity of the long flexors to us, including the flexor hallucis longus (the brevis would only print more proximally; see our post here). This activity is probably to try desperately to stabilize the obviously unstable foot.

Where do you begin? Lots of diligent work on the clients behalf, maybe consider an orthotic that you can slowly pull the correction out of as they improve, to give them mechanics they don’t have. How about the tripod? Increase mobility of that 1st ray and get the 1st met head down and help to keep it there. Mobilization/manipulation, toe waving, tripod standing are a good start. Next tone down some of that long flexor tone. How about some more tripod standing, toes up walking and some shuffle walks. The intrinsics are next, and so on.

Yes, you should own a pedograph.  Need one? One of our friends (Another Shawn) can get you one. contact him at: 303 567 2271

You be able to interpret a pedograph. It provides a window to the gait cycle unlike any you have seen. Need help? Search our blog here with hundreds of examples, go to our Youtube channel and watch some of our great, free videos.

Thirsty for more? We have THE ONLY book published (as far as we know) on them exclusively and you can get it by clicking here. We are told by our publisher that it is being converted to e-book format, but have not been given a conversion date.

Ivo and Shawn. Articulate. In your face. Pushing your limits daily. Changing the way the world looks at the feet and gait.

all material copyright 2012 The Homunculus Group/The Gait Guys. All rights reserved. If you use our stuff without asking us, we WILL find you and and send Toelio to deal with you.

Minimalism: Is there a formula?

On one of our many forays into cyberspace, we ran across this easy to understand formula, from one of our friends Blaise Dubois. After we contacted him, he allowed us to reprint it here, for your enjoyment. Thank You Blaise!

In his words:
“What is the relationship between the FiveFingers, Brooks’ Pure Connect, the Nike Free 4.0 and the Adizero Hagio from Adidas? All are considered “minimalist” running shoes. However, their drop ranges from 0 to 12 mm, their thickness is between 3 and 23 mm while their respective weight and flexibility vary considerably.

In my own opinion, the best definition for minimalism bears a qualitative connotation: “The least amount of shoes you can safely wear now.” Given its qualitative nature, we are bound to define tighter parameters in order to quantify the minimalist definition for running shoes.

Up until now, I would have suggested the following set of characteristics for a clear definition of minimalist running shoes: a drop that was less than 5 mm (heel to toe height differential), a 15 mm stack (thickness at the heel) and a weight lower than 7 oz. (200 g). On the other hand, maximalism would have been defined based on the following: a 7 mm drop, a 20 mm stack along with a weight exceeding 9 oz. (250 g).

Today, we propose a new formula so that you can rate your running shoes on a scale from 1 to 100 (100 being “extremely minimalist” -bare feet- and 1 “extremely maximalist”). The range of variation of your final rating will be more or less 5 points regardless of the comfort criteria, which is subjective. The only thing you need to do is to choose a language, then select the tab of your country at the bottom of the formula page, rate your shoes on the 6 criteria set out and there you go! Please note that we have used average values for criteria to which you don’t have the information. The multiple formats of the formula for every country are represented in accordance with their measuring system, currency and the average selling price of a running shoe for each of these countries.

As for health professionals and scientists, you will see that weighting factors have been applied to all criteria as a function of their importance, which is their effect on the body (biomechanics, tissue adaptation, etc.)

Here’s the formula translated in 3 languages (click on the selected language to access) :
English
French
Spanish

You can now rate your running shoes based upon The Running Clinic’s “TRC Rating” methodology!”

The Gait Guys. Bringing you the meat, the whole meat and nothing but the meat!

from: http://www.therunningclinic.ca/blog/2012/09/definition-du-minimalisme-defining-minimalism/  used with permission from the author

Understanding Neuroreceptors: Movement Concepts

For all you inquiring minds out there, here is a question on one of our YOUTUBE videos we though was worth making into a post.

Question: “Dr Waerlop says that GTO’s (golgi tendon organs) inhibit muscle tension and muscle spindle apparatuses (MSAs) increase muscle tension. But then he says to treat the attachments (GTOs) to increase the tension and the bellies (MSA’s) to decrease. Seems counterintuitive. What is the modality of tx, acupuncture? Massage?…..What is your modailty for treating these? And does that modality inhibit those neurosensors or stimulate them?”

Answer: GTO’s are high threshold receptors that actually modulate muscle activity through inhibition  (Ib afferents) and Spindles are lower threshold receptors receptors that modulate overall activity, particualrly length. Think of the GTO’s as responding to tension and the spindles as responding to muscle length. Spindles are more in the belly of the muscle and GTO’s at the musculo tendonous junctions. By treating the origin and insertion of the muscles, you can modulate both, whereas treating the belly of the muscles, seems to affect the spindles more.

By treating the origin and insertion of the muscles, you can modulate both, whereas treating the belly of the muscles, seems to affect the spindles more.

The modality can be manual or acupuncture stimulation of the origin/ insertion of the muscle that tests weak.We find that acupuncture seems to work bestbut manual methods work just fine as well. We believe we are normalizing function, rather than specifically inhibiting or exciting. Like Chinese medicine, we are balancing the Yin and the Yang, creating homeostasis.

The Gait Guys: Making it real. Making it understandable. Making it happen : )

So what do we see here?

a limp on the left?
a short leg on the right?
a weak gluteus medius on the left?
a shortened step length on the right?
increased arm swing on the left?

watch the push off (terminal stance/pre swing) on the right and then the left. Note how the left is weaker?
now watch the heel strike. Notice how it is shorter when the right strikes the ground than the left?
did you note the pelvic shift to the left on L stance phase? How about the subtle increased knee flexion on the left?

This gentleman has an atrophied gastroc/soleus on the left from an injury. He compensates by increasing thigh flexion on the left to clear the leg. Because he has lost gastroc/soleus strength on the left (the lateral gastrocis an important inverter of the heel after midstance and important component of rearfoot supination), the rearfoot everts more. allowing more midfoot pronation. This collapse of the midfoot brings his weight more medially, so he shifts his pelvis laterally (to the left) to keep his center of gravity over the foot.

Fix?

• Make client aware of what is going on.
• make sure gastroc/soleus complex strength and function is maximized through muscle work, acupuncture, muscle activation, functional gait exercise

The Gait Guys. Bringing you the meat, without the filler.

Copyright 2012: The Gait Guys/The Homunculus Group. All rights reserved. Don’t rip off our stuff!

It’s Foot Fungus Friday! YYYeeeeeccccccchhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Have a great and fungus free weekend!

Ivo and Shawn

The Toe Waving Exercise: Part 3  The Lumbricals

Welcome to Friday, Folks. Part 3 of this series, just in time for the weekend.

In part 1 of this series, we looked at the flexor digitorum longus muscle, and in part 2 the  extensor digitorum longus. In part 3, we will look at some often overlooked muscles, the plantar lumbricals.

Watch the video from the 1st post again. Note the flexion at the metatarsal phalangeal joint.

The lumbricals of the foot attach proximally to the sides of adjacent  tendons of the flexor digitorum longus (with the exception of the 1st, which only attaches to the medial side) and attach distally to the medial aspect of the head of the proximal phalynx; they then continue on to the extensor hoods in toes 2-5. Their open chain function (ie. the foot is off the ground) is described as flexion of the metatarsal phalangeal joint and extension of the proximal and distal interphalangeal joints. They also compress the metatarsal-phalangeal and inerpahlangeal joints, providing stability to the foot. There is also a small adductory moment to counteract abductory shear, due to the tendon passing medial to the metatarsal-phalangeal joints.

The lumbricals are most active from midstance to preswing. That means they act predominantly in closed chain (or, when the foot is on the ground). Thinking along these lines, the lumbricals (along with the other intrinsic muscles of the foot) play a role in maintaining the medial longitudinal arch of the foot and stabilization of the forefoot during stance phase and rearfoot during preswing.

Thinking now, as we are sure you are, in a closed chain fashion, from a distal to proximal orientation, they actually flex the metatarsal on the phalynx, assist in dorsiflexion of the ankle, and help to keep the toes from clawing from over recruitment of the flexor digitorum longus (which we say happen in last weeks post here).

Now think about the changes which can occur with in the gait cycle due to dysfinction of this muscle. A shortened step length, diminished ankle rocker, increased forefoot rocker and premature heel rise. Now we will need increased extension at the metatarsophalangeal joints (particularly the 1st), shifting the tendon of the lumbricals upward and behind the transverse metatarsal joint axis, causing even more extension now at this joint. Chronically over time, this causes displacement of the fat pads anteriorly from under the metatarsal heads.How many patients have you seen with metatarsal head pain?

What about the changes up the kinetic chain and the musculoskeletal implications of muscle inhibition, overfacilitation and joint dysfunction, often with neurological sequalae. Because of the lack of ankle dorsiflexion, you have less hip extension, so you borrow some from the lumbar spine, with increased compressive forces there and an increase in the lordosis, which causes an increase in the thoracic kyphosis and cervical lordosis. We need to get this leg up and forward to continue our progression ahead, so now we fire our hip flexors instead of the obliques. This further fuels inhibition of the glutes, compounding the loss of hip extension. How about a little increased shoulder flexion on the contralateral side to assist getting that leg forward? Don’t forget that we have altered the thoracic kyphosis and thus changed scapulo humeral mechanics. Neck/ shoulder pain from bad feet? Maybe.

Look to the base; it is where many problems begin. Consider function in the context of where it occurs. Have and promote an adequate foot tripod. The Toe Wave is one step in the right direction.

The Gait Guys….Foot Geeks….Gait Geeks…..Shoe Nerds……Yup. If you are reading this, then you are one of us now. Help us to spread the word….


all material copyright 2012 The Homunculus Group/The Gait Guys. All rights reserved. Don’t rip off our stuff! If you ask us nicely we will probably let you use it.

The Windmill Pitch: Fastpitch Softball. More proof that arm swing and opposite leg swing are powerfully coordinated and neurologically paired.

Step length and power can affect opposite arm power and speed.

You have heard us talk often about opposite arm and leg swing pairing and how important they are from a neurological coordination issue. We have also talked about energy conservation and transmission in prior blog posts when it comes to arm swing. Good arm swing will lead to energy conservation.  A reduction in arm swing leads to a poor gait economy.  Check out this study here and the statistics. 

Collins et al Proc Biol Sci, 2009, Oct 22 “Dynamic arm swinging in human walking.”

“normal arm swinging requires minimal shoulder torque, while volitionally holding the arms still requires 12 % more metabolic energy.  Among measures of gait mechanics, vertical ground reactive moments are most affected by arm swinging and increased by 63% without arm swing.”

* type in “arm swing” into our blog SEARCH box and you will see 14 articles we have written on arm swing in human locomotion.

Gait is in every sport, just about.  Here we see a beautiful depiction of the opposite arm and leg pairing neuro-biomechanically, albeit not gait here it is still in her movement.  The larger a first step , whether the pitcher is a overhead hardball thrower or underarm fastball pitcher, the concept remains preserved.  I was a pitcher for over 10 years in the Ontario Fastball league back in Canada when I was a youth and teenager.  I was not a big speed pitcher, but what I had troubles coming up with in speed I was able to make up in putting “junk” on the ball.  My first step was large, and the larger the left step length (as seen in this video here), the more pelvic obliquity that could be achieved, which in turn enabled an opposite “anti-phase” rotation of the shoulder girdle.  When you add increased shoulder girdle obliquity with full arm rotation speed losses can be contained and limited.  Hypothetically, ball speed in a smaller player with a large first step can be heightened to the point of a that of a larger stronger pitcher with a smaller step.

Here you can see a great demonstration of this large step length the video.  They are using the tilt board to facilitate a faster downward plantarflexion of the right foot to drive a larger faster left step. It is the same principle as if you stepped off a curb or into a hole unexpectedly, the body’s natural reaction is to step out quickly with the other limb to catch the body’s forward fall. The board is used to achieve the same result with control. This is why you will see pitchers dig out a trench immediately in front of the pitchers rubber, to create this same plantarflexion drop of the right foot (in this case, the right foot for a right handed pitcher).  The deeper the trench, the more aggressive that left step.

Shawn and Ivo………..digging deep trenches today…….. and finding gait theory everywhere, even in fastball.

http://youtu.be/QzojfAUcGEI

http://youtu.be/0OA6RfTre6M

The Gait Guys Podcast #9: The Essex Swagger & The City Walkers

Podcast #9 is Live !

*Call to action ! If you like this podcast, think of some friends and colleagues who might enjoy it…… and consider sending it their way !

This link will get you a nicely laid out “show notes” and pod player.
http://thegaitguys.libsyn.com/pod-9-essex-swagger-city-walking

This one will get you to the show player of ALL of our podcasts.
http://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/thegaitguys

Here are the show liner notes:

1- NEUROSCIENCE PIECE:

People walk differently all around the world. We talked about this in our  blog piece “Essex Swagger” and you can find that here at

http://thegaitguys.tumblr.com/search/essex+swagger.  
Did you know that you can predict how much crime is in a city from how people walk ? How many libraries in a city from how you walk ? A cities economy ? Income, wages, number of patents, restaurants, number of colleges ? 
So, when we heard this episode at Radiolab we had to call them up and ask if we could play for you a part of their piece “Cities”.  Give this a listen and enjoy the beauty of this great episode of Radiolab.  Thanks to Jennifer and Nadia, Jad and Richard at Radiolab for giving us permission to play this piece for you !  Enjoy !
“Cities” on RADIOLAB. You can find it at  http://www.radiolab.org/  . Click on PODCASTS and look for “Cities” from Season 8 in their Archives section to enjoy the entire excellent podcast.
2- Email from a Reader: I’m a 2nd year graduate Physiotherapist in New Zealand who has a great amount of interest in lower limb bio-mechanics. I have done some advanced clinical pilates training but I am struggling to find any good learning resources or courses in this country on biomechanics. I’ve seen all your youtube videos and I am aware you have a few DVD’s out.

I’m looking for a good base level DVD that cover foot types, strategies and adaptations, ankle rocker and a few case studies. Would you be able to point me toward one or two of yours as ive found your videos very helpful and I’m keen to learn much more from the gait guys.
Cheers, Sam
(as well as the doc from the UK who had the same question)

3- DISCLAIMER:
We are not your doctors so anything you hear here should not be taken as medical advice. For that you need to visit YOUR doctors and ask them the questions. We have not examined you, we do not know you, we know very little about your medical status. So, do not hold us responsible for taking our advice when we have just told you not to !  Again, we are NOT your doctors !

4- Morton’s toe: the chicken or the egg ? 

5-  Mail from an International Follower of our Blog
Hi Gait Guys, My problems are in both knees (valgum) and also neck and spine (i have neck surgery of herniated disc), my whole structure body is really flexible, hypermobility, with really high arches i grew up with really tight shoes, but my arch goes down and up, deppending surface or shoe or orthotics, i know they told me my problem comes from my feet, but i haven´t found the correct orthotic devices or shoes to wear, and be suppinating, i have my bones x-rays and magnetic ressonance of both knees…

I dream to  run again or play soccer. i am sending you some videos and pictures about my feet, they are really flexible and were grown in very tight shoes, so now every shoe and orthotic or combination of both give me really different postures, sometimes my knees get fixed but not my spine, and sometimes the other way. But i haven´t found the correct combination, my knees became operated because the outside cartilage of femur was smashed (grade 4 in left), on right knee less but the same, because knees in X form (valgum), also my neck has a surgery with fusion of two vertebras, often with pain in neck and also in arms. Whatever you tell me, i will fix how to do it, i want to try everything before giving up, because is not life for me at the age of 34.
Tnanks!!!

Eduardo, Guadalajara
6- EMAIL FROM A COACH: 
what does it say about shoe companies, and us for that matter when shoe reps start calling us to ask us questions about their companies product !!!!!
7- READER EMAIL

Hi Guys,  I’ve been watching your videos and attempting to correct issues with
my gait.  Thanks to your videos and blog, I’ve learned that the
cross-over gait is horribly wrong and inefficient and I’ve been
working to correct that.

My email to you today is about muscle tightness.  I watched this video
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LHK8oj8fdjM)
but would like more information on how to correct my tightness.  Like
the example in the video, my hamstrings are tight.  So are my calves.
 As a result, I can not touch my toes, and I’m experiencing top of
foot pain on my left foot that seems to be related to tightness in my
calves.   I had an xray and MRI that show no signs of stress fracture
or other cause for concern in my foot.  When I take extra time to
stretch my calves (by dropping my heels off a step) or by rolling them
with The Stick, the symptoms subside.   If I go a few days without
doing these stretches/rolls, then it comes back.
Is this a sign of weakness on the complementary muscles?  Or do I
really need to work on stretching these muscles 20-30 minutes at a
time? Thanks for your help, - Craig

8- WORKSHOPS

Hi guys,  Greetings from Malaysia. I’m a second year Chiropractic student and watched some of your video clips..they are very informative. Do you have plans to run workshops in this side of the world perhaps (Aust/NZ/UK)?
By the way, have you met any Rolfers? I am a bit confused as they claim to do gait analysis and be able to spot areas of tension, etc.
 Thank you for your time.
 Kind regards, Ben
9- SHOE TALK:

Mountain Chang…….Primal Professional, barefoot dress shoe.
 about.me/mtnevan
http://www.mtnevan.com/

How’s it going guys? Metal toe taps and heel caps just came on my radar as an accessory used to extend to life of fancy dress shoe soles. What’s your opinion on and/or experience with these? Thanks in advance!
- Mountain

The Consequences of Overstriding.

Consequences of Over Striding: “Call me Ishmael”.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were running and impacted the foot at foot strike at the end range ankle rocker (full dorsiflexion) with the knee extended ? Can you even imagine this ?  It is hard isn’t it.  (Be patient, we are about to show you, but for now just try to imagine it.)
Where would the shock absorption go ?
How could  you progress over the limb other than through hip rotation?  Because there certainly would be no pivot over the ankle joint, like a client with a fused ankle joint. The ankle and lower leg would be like a wooden peg leg, “Call me Ishmael ! ”.

And if the forces were moving up from the ground through the locked ankle mortise (which is again,terminal dorsiflexion) and a locked knee (again, in full extension) the forces through the hip would follow from the ground upwards. Creating a vaulting phenomenon. “Call me Ishmael”.
Can you picture this ?
If not, here is the video piece (VIDEO LINK) today very nicely depicting this awful biomechanical event.
You see, if you know your biomechanics, this stuff can virtually be created in your brain……. but it is always nice to see an athlete try it out.  That is why they get the big bucks !  Did you watch the video link yet ? He sure put the ACL and PCL in the octagon on that one !

Shawn and Ivo, the Biomechanics nerds……. as strange as Ishmael in the Octagon.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/houston-marwin-gonzalez-turns-most-spectacular-injury-season-144210692–mlb.html