Have you seen this?

Patterns. That’s what it’s about a lot of times. Dr Allen and I are always looking for patterns or combinations of muscles which work together and seem to cause what appear to be predictable patterns; like a weak anterior compartment and a weak gluteus maximus, or a weak gluteus medius and contralateral quadratus lumborum.

Here is an interesting story and a new combination that at least I have never seen before

I had a 11-year-old right footed soccer player from my son’s soccer team coming to see me with bilateral posterior knee pain which began during a soccer game while he was “playing up” on his older brothers team. He did need to do a lot of jumping as well as cutting. He is generally a midfielder/Forward. Well experienced player and “soccer is his life“.

My initial thoughts were something like a gastroc dysfunction or a Baker’s cyst. On examination, no masses or definitive swelling noted behind either knee. He did have tenderness to moderate degree over the right plantaris and tenderness as well as 4/5 weakness of the left popliteus. There was a loss of long axis extension of the talo crural articulations bilaterally with the loss of lateral bending to the right and left at L2-L3.

If you think about the mechanics of the right footed kicker (and try this while kicking a soccer ball yourself) it would be approximately as follows: left foot would be planted near the ball and the tibia/femur complex would be internally rotating well the foot is pronating and the popliteus would be eccentrically contracting to slow the rotation of the femur and the tibia. The right foot will be coming through and plantarflexion after a push off from the ball of the foot firing the triceps surae and plantaris complexes. He would be “launching“ off of the right foot and landing on his left just prior to the kick, causing a sudden demand on the plantar flexors; with the plantaris being the weak link. As the kicking leg follows through, the femur of the stance phase leg needs to externally rotate (along with the tibia) at a faster rate than the tibia (otherwise you could injure the meniscus) the popliteus would be contracting concentrically. A cleat, because it increases the coefficient of friction with the ground would keep the foot on the ground solidly planted and The burden of stress would go to the muscles which would be extremely routine leg and close chain which would include the semimembranosus/tendinosis  complex as well as the vastus medialis and possibly gracilis and short adductor, along with the popliteus.

I have to say and all of my years of practice I’ve never seen this combination type of injury before involving these two muscles specifically and am wondering if anyone else has seen this?

Dr Ivo Waerlop, one of The Gait Guys

#footproblem #gait #thegaitguys #soccerinjury #bilateralkneepain #popliteus #plantaris

image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slide2ACCA.JPG

image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slide2ACCA.JPG

Podcast 128: Usain Bolt, Plantaris Tears, Arm Swing

Podcast links:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegaitguys/pod_128final.mp3

http://thegaitguys.libsyn.com/podcast-128-usain-bolt-plantaris-tears-arm-swing

https://www.thegaitguys.com/podcasts/


Key Tagwords:

usain bolt, plantaris tear, plantaris, sole lifts, heel lift, leg length, short leg, heel drop, shoeque, symmetry, asymmetry, sprinters, scoliosis, tendinopathy, achilles, runners, marathons, running injuries, arm swing

Our Websites:
www.thegaitguys.com
summitchiroandrehab.com   doctorallen.co     shawnallen.net


Our website is all you need to remember. Everything you want, need and wish for is right there on the site.
Interested in our stuff ? Want to buy some of our lectures or our National Shoe Fit program? Click here (thegaitguys.com or thegaitguys.tumblr.com) and you will come to our websites. In the tabs, you will find tabs for STORE, SEMINARS, BOOK etc. We also lecture every 3rd Wednesday of the month on onlineCE.com. We have an extensive catalogued library of our courses there, you can take them any time for a nominal fee (~$20).
 
Our podcast is on iTunes, Soundcloud, and just about every other podcast harbor site, just google "the gait guys podcast", you will find us.
 
Show Notes:

Superficial plantar cutaneous sensation does not trigger barefoot running adaptations.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28728130

Arm swing
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/173680.php

Usain bolt
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/07/20/sports/olympics/usain-bolt-stride-speed.html?referer=

Plantaris tears
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1978447/

What are we listening to this week? The Plantaris…Thanks to Karly Foster of Twin Bridges Physiotherapy the: Physioedge podcast with David PopeImagine if you were able to dedicate a large portion of your life to the study of one individual mus…

What are we listening to this week? The Plantaris…

Thanks to Karly Foster of Twin Bridges Physiotherapy the: Physioedge podcast with David Pope


Imagine if you were able to dedicate a large portion of your life to the study of one individual muscle. That’s exactly what the main person interviewed here has done Dr. Kristof Spang from Sweden has done.  a lot of research on Achilles tendon tendinopathy.This podcast looks at the role of the plantaris muscle in mid tendon tendinopathy, with an emphasis on anatomy.

This muscle needs to be considered in recalcitrant cases of Achilles tendon apathy which of not respond to conservative means.

Dr Spang goes through some of the anatomical variations of attachment of the plantaris, with 10 to 20% attaching into the Achilles tendon. Since there seems to be at least nine different anatomical variations in attachment that can occur; this can often explain the variety of symptoms associated with plantaris issues.

The plantaris attaches from the lateral aspect of the femoral condyle downward to its insertion point within deli near its origin at the knee. The area of attachment distally can be between two and 5 mm and this “area attachment” may be part of the source of the pain. Phylogenetically the tendon attaches into the plantar fashia, similar to the palmaris. One theory is due to the small muscle size it may actually act as a proprioceptive sentinel for the knee and ankle. The peritendonous tissue may interfere with the gliding of the tendon in this is believed to be one of the ideologies of this recalcitrant problem.

Of the diagnostic imaging available, ultrasound seems to provide the most clues. In the absence of imaging, recalcitrant medial knee tendon Achilles tendon pain seems to also be a good indicator.

Our takeaway was that most often the problem seems to be had a conjoined area between the planters and Achilles tendon midcalf lead to most problems. Treatment concentrated in this area may have better results. If this is unsuccessful, surgery (removal of the plantaris, extreme, eh?)  may need to be considered.

Regarding specific tests for plantaris involvement, people who pronate seem to be more susceptible than those who supinate. This is not surprising since the tendon runs from lateral to medial it would be under more attention during predatory forces

It seems that plantaris tendonopathy  can exist separately from an conjoint tendinopathy and it may be that people of younger age may suffer from plantaris tendinopathy alone. This may indicate that the problem may begin with the plantaris and that the planters is actually stronger and stiffer than the Achilles!

It was emphasized that this condition only exists in a small percentage of mid Achilles tendon apathy patients. And that conservative means should always be exhausted first.


All in all, an interesting discussion for those who are interested in pathoanatomy. Check out part 2 in this series for more. 


link to PODcast: http://physioedge.com.au/physio-edge-041-plantaris-involvement-in-midportion-achilles-tendinopathy/