Podcast 55: Cold Joints, Gluten Brain & Toilets

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-The Neurophysiology of your Joint Pain and Problems

A. Link to our server:

Direct Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegaitguys/pod_55final.mp3

Permalink: http://thegaitguys.libsyn.com/podcast-55-cold-joints-gluten-brain-toilets

B. iTunes link:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-gait-guys-podcast/id559864138

C. Gait Guys online /download store (National Shoe Fit Certification and more !) :

http://store.payloadz.com/results/results.aspx?m=80204

D. other web based Gait Guys lectures:

www.onlinece.com   type in Dr. Waerlop or Dr. Allen,  ”Biomechanics”

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* Today’s show notes:

3 neuroscience pieces this week:
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‘Gluten Brain’: Wheat Cuts Off Blood Flow To Frontal Cortex 

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/research-wheat-cuts-blood-flow-brains-frontal-cortex

Influence of midsole hardness of standard cushioned shoes on running-related injury risk

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blishahead/Running_Shoes_Increase_Achilles_Tendon_Load_in.98153.aspx
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Case From a blog reader
Hello, 
I’m a swedish elite cross-country skier and newly graduated physio and I find your podcasts very interesting and informative! I have a question about something I’ve never heard you talk about, and which has been a problem for me for the last year.
It’s about the IP-joint of the big toe. I’ve had discomfort/pain in the joint for the last year, mostly after my workouts. It’s a bit swollen and there is crepitus to some degree(especially when I manually flex the toe while compressing it and at the same time have a pressure downwards/ventrally of the distal phalanx. I think it may be coming from a trauma I had 4-5 years ago when I stubbed my big toe really hard in a rock in an orienteering competition, which caused me to rest from running for a week or two.
So, my question to you is if you have any suggestion for me or others in my situation? Treatment? Which types of shoes to use? How would a future joint-fusion affect my running?
I’m only 23 years old and I’m really worried that this ache/discomfort will just get worse and worse.. I’ve asked a lot of great physios here in Sweden, but most of them don’t know much about what to do.
I’d be really grateful if you could take the time to give this a thought and share it.
Thanks!
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Another reader case:
 

Good morning. I am a former collegiate runner, I competed at Eastern Michigan University and Grand Valley State University, my father is a Chiropractor in northern Michigan. While in school I was recalled to active duty in the reserves after 9/11 and was unable to finish my eligibility. I am now 32, living in North Carolina, and trying to make a comeback to running and competing in Triathlons. At 6’2” and 170lbs. during college  I was competitive at the collegiate level  but always a step behind the true elites in the distance races in college, probably just because of my size, etc. competing against guys carrying 30 less lbs.

I train with a team called Without Limits  (iamwithoutlimits.com ) in Wilmington NC. My coach had mentioned that I had a really long loping stride which felt normal to me, but I cannot remember if I ran this way in college or not. When I finally counted, I had a cadence of 140 steps per minute rather then the optimal 180…

Long story short, I got really out of shape, now getting into pretty good form again, but I am having problems with the IT band and pain in the knee on the right leg. I never ever had this in college training at very high levels (90-100 mile weeks in the off and early parts of each season) …so now I have the bike component that I am working on, but being a larger distance runner I am trying to fine tune my gait/stride and see if I can improve my running that way and also figure out what is going on with this IT band issue as I am only running 30-40 miles/week now but on the bike and in the pool a lot. I am back down to 175 and pretty lean but carrying a little extra muscle from biking and swimming.

Would you be interested, if I could send you several high quality videos from different angles, in taking a look at my gait (or even riding the bike on the trainer) and see if you notice anything ? I have been working on improving my cadence since the IT band issues began, and found your videos online while doing research.  I understand this would be better done on a treadmill or in the parking lot at your office where you could watch up close, but if you are interested, please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.

 Sincerely,

 Tim

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The sedentary life affects your neurons !

http://www.outsideonline.com/news-from-the-field/Sitting-Still-Is-Bad-For-Your-Neurons.html

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A 3rd case this week, on Dystonia

Do you guys have any recommendations for analysis and treatment of acquired focal and gait dystonia?
It started as a splinting mechanism with a very loose right si and some L5 radiculopathy over 5 years ago.  The dystonia would come and go then eventually stuck all the time.
All the dystonia is on the right side and I don’t have any systemic neurological disease.
Forward walking, stair climbing, running (although barefoot running in grass and in particular undulating surfaces is ok in small amounts, asphalt or treadmill
brings on dystonia within seconds) are all a problem. Can cycle, run in water for 40 minutes or so no problem, so I think Si may still be hypermobile.  Walking backwards no problem.
Dystonia presents as stiff right leg with knee hyperextension, right eccentric weak, right glute medius weak, sticky posterior weight shift, but full and
painless movement through complete range of hip and knee.  I do have some focal dystonia as well mostly knee extension with hip flexion and foot supination and eversion with hip and knee flexed.

There must be someone who deals with this somewhat locally to me, Virginia Beach, VA.  Hoping you all may have some contacts on the east coast.
Thanks,
Sally

Get This: A Smart Toilet That Aims to Correct Poor Posture, and Even Detect Pregnancy and Disease | Entrepreneur.com
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231344

Food Alert ! Gluten and your Thyroid. What you don't know, but should.

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Every now and then we come across something that we think the whole world should know about, kind of like GMO foods.  Gluten is another. Today, more than 1 in 133 Americans suffer from gluten related health problems while an even higher percentage of the population goes undiagnosed with an emerging condition called ‘gluten sensitivity.’ From a website doctorauer.com we discovered, but have not yet fact checked this following historical mention:

“In 1843, a physician named Stanislas Tanchou spoke at the Paris Medical Society Conference. He claimed that he could predict the cancer rates in major European cities over the next 50 years. He based his predictions on the percentage of grains being consumed in each major city. What is astonishing is that, over time, his predictions turned out to be correct. In the cities that had the highest grain consumption, cancer rates were the highest. This is in stark contrast to the fact that in populations who did not consume grains, cancer did not exist."  - article link

Here at The Gait Guys, being doctors who treat athletes and non-athletes, we have written about gluten in previous blog posts on "Gluten Ataxia” (Link)  and Running yourself into Hormone Trouble (link) because we felt it was important to spread the wisdom. We even recently talked about gluten and how it can damage your thyroid profile and gut via one of the gluten subfractions called gliadin on podcast #12 (link).

These dialogues seemed to spur one of our brilliant and engaged readers and listeners.  Jim sent us a series of emails which you will find below.  We obtained his permission to reproduce the emails (thx Jim !). We will also welcome him to chime in further on Facebook when this post cross-links if he has further input.

We are building a wonderful and brilliant readership and fast growing podcast following. We have smart folks joining the brethren here at The Gait Guys ! And we are blessed to have Jim, and celebrate his homework and knowledge here. 

Everyone should read this, especially if you have tested gluten insensitive but still have gut issues or immune issues. You may have your eyes opened ! 

PS * at the very bottom of this blog post you will find a link to a wonderful video youtube lecture by Dr Osborne. If you watch the first 4 minutes you will learn that corn, millet, oats, rice, rye, sorgum and barley all have their own types of gluten in them.  You will clearly understand why a sensitive person MIGHT get away with rice but not wheat. Hence why this is a very difficult problem for the average consumer. 

Thanks Jim !

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 Greetings Gait Guys!

   I met Dr. Allen at the May NSCA conference at CSU. I remember him mentioning endurance athletes being prone to hypothyroidism. I’ve been researching hypothyroid issues since 2007, so of course that piqued my interest. Recently I came across the book “Mastering Leptin” by Byron Richards, CCN. I was familiar with Mr. Richards expertise in thyroid issues from some You Tube videos of his, but I wasn’t prepared for the paradigm changing information in this book. As it turns out, leptin is the master controller of our metabolism.
   Leptin is produced in white adipose tissue, and is supposed to signal satiety when one has had enough to eat. If body fat gets too low for too long with not enough leptin getting to the brain, the brain will signal the endocrine system to go into a starvation/hibernation metabolic reduction as it thinks one is starving, and is trying to save energy until food is found. On the other hand, if there is too much leptin from too much fat for too long, the brain goes into leptin resistance, and the end results are the same, as the brain isn’t getting enough leptin and thinks one is starving (this is a major cause of obesity, besides of our toxic "food" supply, and explains why most calorie restriction diets ultimately fail).
   So, it may well be that endurance athletes may actually just need to put on a couple of pounds of fat to get leptin back up to normal. 
   I cannot recommend strongly enough getting a copy of this book and getting the full story. There’s also a trick involving calcium to re-activate the liver’s conversion of T-4 to T-3, thus re-activating proper thyroid metabolism. I know it works, as it’s worked for me. I had no idea such a thing was possible.
 
I forgot to emphasize that the thyroid is the first endocrine gland to be targeted along with the adrenals. Mr. Richards also emphasizes that there is what he calls the leptin/insulin/adrenal resistance triad. Any problem with one will eventually result in problems with the others. Seeing as this book was first published in 2002, I can’t believe that this hasn’t caught on. It was updated in 2005 (or 6) and again in 2009 (I personally prefer the 2nd edition).

In Nora Gedgadaus’ book “Primal Body, Primal Mind”, she explains that there are actually 12 subfractions of the gliadin protein (gliadin is a biproduct of gluten metabolism). According to her, at least at the time she wrote the book (2012 or 2011) there was only one lab in existence that could test for all 12 subfractions: Cyrex Labs. Most of the other labs only test for the “alpha” subfraction. This is why there are so many false negatives. But the best way is just to go by how one reacts individually to it. For some reason, science doesn’t trump nature as some would have us believe…

Keep up the pursuit of excellence.
 
A Steve Martin Reference:  “Oh no! I’ve got happy feet!”
 
Good Gaiting To You! - Jim C

* Doctorauer’s article concludes with (and many other experts in the field agree ) the following:

“Grains are truly humanity’s double edged sword. They enabled us to leave behind our hunter gatherer lifestyle and created the foundation for the modern societies as we know them today. On the other hand, there is growing evidence that they are one of the major culprits for our health problems.

We must remember that evolutionarily speaking, we have been around for almost two million years, but we have only been eating grains for a few thousand. As such, our bodies have not had the time to adapt to this “new” food in our diet. Furthermore, modern farming, harvesting, and processing methods have stripped grains of their nutritional integrity, decreasing their digestibility, and making them highly toxic and inflammatory food to our bodies. With no doubt, today’s grains are proving to be one of the major underlying contributors to the development of degenerative diseases as we known them today.”

Byron Richards websites are http://www.wellnessresources.com/ and http://www.byronrichards.com/ .

Dr. Osborne’s video youtube lecture:    http://youtu.be/cv5RwxYW8yA