Foot Strike of Women for the Olympic Time Trials:

This picture comes from Iain Hunter at BYU: http://biomechanics.byu.edu/. We found it on Peter Larson’s Blog: Runblogger.com http://www.runblogger.com/2012/06/foot-strike-patterns-of-men-and-women.html

Here are some of our thoughts:

It would have been nice to see each of these in turn on video for further analysis; What this shows are a few things;

• People who are at this level and run fast have different foot strike patterns, this type of foot strike does not always equal the fastest times (though the top 3 were mid foot strikers, something we work with our athletes to achieve)

• 7 (and 1 DNF) were midfoot strikers

• 4 were forefoot strikers

• 11 were heel strikers

• many runners has asymmetrical strikes, depending on side (4)

• 4 of these runners seem to have a significant varus in either their fore foot or rear foot. However this is difficult to truly tell from such small single snapshot pictures.  And just because it appears to be a varus landing does not mean that it is true on examination, a foot that has reduced peroneal activity can appear to have a  varus strike, but that does not truly then comment on a true forefoot varus. Also, remember from our previous posts, if a runners is employing a notable degree of cross over gait technique the approach of the foot to the ground and at the ground can appear to be forefoot varus. * These are critical points, because what you see is not necessarily what you truly have.  There are possibly many variables playing out.

• shoes which have green on them are more popular (7)

• Neither Shawn nor Ivo could run a 10K and have a chance against any of these folks 

Have a great Saturday

Ivo and Shawn

Happy Friday Everyone!

Have a great weekend

Ivo and Shawn

Continuing on our theme of Foot Odor Friday….

Ever wonder why feet smell like Limberger cheese? How about what to do about it? Ever Wonder what the Brits think about smelly feet? We did, and this is what we found…

Have a great Friday

The Gait Guys

A Cure for Smelly Feet?

Welcome to foot odor Friday. Today’s Theme: You guessed it!

Here’s one paper we though had merit (sure, go to Pub Med and search foot odor. There were 119 entries). We think we may try this in the office…

The Gait Guys: Yes, smelly feet are something we have to deal with at the office on a daily basis. One of the pitfalls of being a Foot Geek : )

Make sure to check back later for more on malodorous extremities…                        

J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2007 Jul 13;4:3.

A novel aromatic oil compound inhibits microbial overgrowth on feet: a case study.

Misner BD.

Source

West 1140 Glass Avenue Spokane, Washington, 99205, USA. drbill@omnicast.net.

Abstract

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND:

Athlete’s Foot (Tinea pedis) is a form of ringworm associated with highly contagious yeast-fungi colonies, although they look like bacteria. Foot bacteria overgrowth produces a harmless pungent odor, however, uncontrolled proliferation of yeast-fungi produces small vesicles, fissures, scaling, and maceration with eroded areas between the toes and the plantar surface of the foot, resulting in intense itching, blisters, and cracking. Painful microbial foot infection may prevent athletic participation. Keeping the feet clean and dry with the toenails trimmed reduces the incidence of skin disease of the feet. Wearing sandals in locker and shower rooms prevents intimate contact with the infecting organisms and alleviates most foot-sensitive infections. Enclosing feet in socks and shoes generates a moisture-rich environment that stimulates overgrowth of pungent both aerobic bacteria and infectious yeast-fungi. Suppression of microbial growth may be accomplished by exposing the feet to air to enhance evaporation to reduce moistures’ growth-stimulating effect and is often neglected. There is an association between yeast-fungi overgrowths and disabling foot infections. Potent agents virtually exterminate some microbial growth, but the inevitable presence of infection under the nails predicts future infection. Topical antibiotics present a potent approach with the ideal agent being one that removes moisture producing antibacterial-antifungal activity. Severe infection may require costly prescription drugs, salves, and repeated treatment.

METHODS:

A 63-y female volunteered to enclose feet in shoes and socks for 48 hours. Aerobic bacteria and yeast-fungi counts were determined by swab sample incubation technique (1) after 48-hours feet enclosure, (2) after washing feet, and (3) after 8-hours socks-shoes exposure to an aromatic oil powder-compound consisting of arrowroot, baking soda, basil oil, tea tree oil, sage oil, and clove oil.

CONCLUSION:

Application of this novel compound to the external surfaces of feet completely inhibited both aerobic bacteria and yeast-fungi-mold proliferation for 8-hours in spite of being in an enclosed environment compatible to microbial proliferation. Whether topical application of this compound prevents microbial infections in larger populations is not known. This calls for more research collected from subjects exposed to elements that may increase the risk of microbial-induced foot diseases.

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MORE compensations for short legs…

We remember from 2 weeks ago, the week before, AND last week, there at least SIX common compensations for a short leg.

We spoke about circumducting the long leg last time. Once again, here is the list

•  pronation of the longer side, supination of the shorter
• leaning to he shorter leg side
• circumduction of the longer leg around the shorter
•  hip hike on long leg side (seen as contraction of hip abductors, obliques and quadratus  lumborum on short leg side)
• excessive ankle plantar flexion on short side
•  excessive knee bend on the long leg side

Lets look at “hip hiking” of the longer extremity today. Hiking the hip allows one to create enough room (hopefully) to get that long leg through without dragging on the ground. Again,  it makes no difference if the leg is functionally or structurally short, the body still needs a strategy to move around the longer leg.

This gal in the video has cerebral palsy (CP), affecting the left side. She has a short R leg and hikes the L pelvis pelvis up to get it to clear (she has L g med weakness due to the CP)

Watch the above video a few times to see what we are talking about. You can really see it when she is walking toward you.

Remember here is that what you are seeing is the compensation, not necessarily the problem. When one leg is shorter, something must be done to get the longer leg through swing phase.

Hip Hiking. Not quite the “Walk in the Woods” Bill Bryson was talking about, but yet another compensation for a short leg.

Ivo and Shawn. …bald, good looking, geeky…… The Gait Guys

Neuromechanics Weekly: How does appropriate movement diminish pain?

We talk about proper (or should we say appropriate) movement (including gait) inhibiting or diminishing pain. So, how does that happen?

Above on the left is a great diagram that we will work through.

You are looking at a cross section of a spinal cord (We can hear the groans already!) We remember that the dorsal horn (posterior part) is sensory and the ventral horn (front) is motor. In between them (the lateral horn) is autonomic (this runs automatized body functions such as your heart, lung, guts, etc).

Small nerve fibers subserve pain. These are the A delta and C nerve fibers. “Small” refers to fiber diameter of the nerve. These nerves are where pain stimuli enters the spinal cord; they enter the sensory dorsal horn and synapse/connect there with the next neuron in line that takes the sensory message up the spinal cord to the brain to tell you about the pain including its intensity, location etc. Pain can result from tissue damage or injury (which can be due to, or the result of, poor biomechanics).

Large diameter nerve fibers subserve sensations like touch, pressure, vibration, muscle spindles (muscle length) and golgi tendon organs (muscle tension/load). These fibers also enter the sensory dorsal horn, but they do not synapse immediately, unlike pain fibers. They ultimately travel up to the top of the brainstem or cerebellum to coordinate information with other data your brain is processing. They send a branch (or collateral) to an inhibitory neuron, which excites the inhibitory neuron. Thus, if you excite an inhibitory neuron, it does it’s job and inhibits the propagation of an impulse. In this case, it inhibits the pain impulse from traveling to the cortex. So pain is inhibited. Appropriate biomechanics excite the largest population of receptors and provide the most effective response. 

Now look at the diagram on the right. It is a simplified schematic of the one on the left, with detail of the connections. Note that the LARGE FIBERS (from joint mechanoreceptors, spindles, muscles, etc) EXCITE the inhibitory interneuron (which would inhibit it). Also note that the SMALL FIBERS INHIBIT the inhibitory internuron (which would excite it!)

There you have it. Clear as mud? Go through some of our old posts on receptors and FEEL THE PAIN (parts 1, 2, 3+4) and come back to this and read it again. You know you want to be a geek, so go ahead!

The Gait Guys: Geeks on many levels. helping you to presynaptically inhibit pain on a daily basis, through better movement.

Case of the Week: Rib Pain while Running: Part 2

Welcome back. Glad you picked choice d (or maybe you had a pint anyway)

Assessment: This patient has a significant difference in the length of her legs; her left leg being short, right leg being longer. The right ilia is rotated posteriorly (thus the tissue fold) in an attempt to shorten the extremity and the left ilia is rotated anteriorly, in an attempt to lengthen the leg. This is putting the abdominal external obliques in a  lengthened and shortened position, respectively. The right is short weak and the left is long (stretch).  The obliques attach to the lower ribs 5-12 (for external) and ribs 10-12 (for the internals).

The psoas muscle takes its origin form the lumbar vertebral bodies and inserts on the lesser trochanter of the femur. Due to the poterior rotation of the right ilia, it has been lengthened over time (thus the difference in hip extension) and is stretch weak on the right.

So why only on the right and during running?

due to the anatomical leg length difference, the right oblique has shortened over time. Running (forced inspiration and expiration) causes us to use some of our accessory muscles of respiration (obliques, intercostals, serratus posterior superior and inferior, sternocleidomastoid, scalenes. Remember that for quiet respiration, only the diaphragm is used for inspiration; passive tension in muscles for expiration).

Also, the stride length will be increased on the longer leg side (ie when the L leg is in swing and R in stance); this put additional stretch on the R iliopsoas and R abdominal obliques.

iliopsoasthe

Treatment Plan: We placed a 3 mm lift in her left shoe. We treated with manipulative therapy of the lumbar spine.  She was given the nontripod, side bridge, cross/crawl quadruped and hip flexor stretch with side bending exercises to perform on a daily basis.  She felt better post treatment.

Case of the Week: Rib Pain while Running: Part 1

This 39 year old woman presents with with rib pain, pointing to right ribs. First time it “went out” 1 ½ year ago, second time a year ago and recently two weeks ago. It is usually related to running with pain the day of and day after it is acute; it hurts to lie on her back or roll onto that side or breathe deep. She seems to do best when she is semiflexed on her knees.  Stretching can take the edge off.  When she has an acute episode, it usually lasts about a day.

She is very physically active and works out almost everyday. She runs triathlons and Ironman’s (or Ironwoman’s in this case), and generally is in good shape.

Above is what you see physically (hover mouse over each picture) and here are her exam findings:

She is 5’ and weighs approx. 105 pounds. BP 100/72 left, pulse ox 94, pulse 52. Lungs auscultate clearly, normal heart sounds, abdomen non tender and normal to percussion and auscultation.

Viewed from posterior in a standing position, she had increased tibial varum bi-lat., right greater than left, right hip had posterior rotation, less space between iliac crest and rib margin right hand side. No tenderness noted over the obliques or lower ribs left hand side. She had a loss of lateral bending to the left L2 through L4 negative theta-z stress.

She has a L  left short leg (tibial) 5 mm, bi-lat. external tibial torsion left greater than right. There is weakness of the abdominal internal and external obliques bi-lat. as well as iliopsoas, R > L. There was point tenderness at the R lesser trochanter; active and passive hip extensoin was 10 degrees right, 15 degrees left.

Question: What is your assessment and what are you going to do?

a. do not know, go have a beer

b. do not know, go have 2 beers

c. do not know, do not drink beer, have a double latte after reading Fridays post and try not to spill it

d. reply to this post,  think about it and check back later to see what The Gait Guys have to say

A small boy was walking along a beach at low tide, where countless thousands of small sea creatures, having been washed up, were stranded and doomed to perish. A man watched as the boy picked up individual creatures and took them back into the water.

“I can see you’re being very kind,” said the watching man, “But there must be a million of them; it can’t possibly make any difference.”

Returning from the water’s edge, the boy said, “It will for that one.”

We seek to make a difference, no matter how small.

The Gait Guys

Injury and Repair?

It appears injury and repair are the yin and yang of healing. Injury may be necessary for nerve regeneration to occur, at least in mice. Talk about neural learning! So injuries (from a neurological perspective) may be a good thing!  Perhaps this is why acupuncture, dry needling and intramuscular therapy work so well for these conditions. ( Watch for a Live Gait Guys course in dry needling and intramuscular stimulation this fall in Chicago and Denver!)    

A protein abbreviated DLK (which stands for dual leucine zipper kinase) apparently is necessary to activate nerve regeneration after an injury.    

“DLK is a key molecule linking an injury to the nerve’s response to that injury, allowing the nerve to regenerate,” says Aaron DiAntonio, MD, PhD, professor of developmental biology. “How does an injured nerve know that it is injured? How does it take that information and turn on a regenerative program and regrow connections? And why does only the peripheral nervous system respond this way, while the central nervous system does not? We think DLK is part of the answer.”    

Most injuries have a neurological component, whether it be the inflammatory process, a change in muscle tone or activity, the perception of pain or proprioceptive abnormality. If this mechanism is not triggered, the nervous system may not heal. This may provide clues as to why nerve injuries heal so slowly or are less responsive. Learning more about this protein may provide clues and answers to this commonly encountered dilemma.    

The original paper was published in Neuron and a nice summary can be found here.    

The Gait Guys: sorting out the literature and giving you the latest information so you can make more informed clinical decisions.

The Coffee Walkers: Why coffee should come in a sippy cup. A tangent article on gait concepts.

The Coffee Walkers. It sounds like some creepy Steven King inspired blog post today (reminds us of the Tommy Knockers). However, the truth of the matter is that this is a gait blog post on walking.

Why is it so hard to walk with a cup of “joe” or a coffee mug of anything liquid for that matter ? It is all about physics and wave frequency.

In a neat little article written by Natalie Wolchover for CNBC.com she says,

“New research shows that "the properties of mugs, legs and liquid conspire to cause spills, most often at some point between your seventh and tenth step. So says a pair of fluid physicists at the University of California at Santa Barbara.”

This is a physics problem actually. It is one of frequencies to be precise. Apparently the human stride has almost exactly the right frequency and amplitude to drive the natural oscillations of a liquid when it is in a classic shaped and sized coffee mug. The frequency of the liquid sloshing to and fro in your mug has the same frequency as your gait. So, when you are walking with your mug-of-Joe there is an additive effect of the two frequencies and apparently the more steps that are taken the effect eventually summates until the lip of the mug is exceeded. Stopping or slowing down once the ride is underway and the summation effect is changed, but not necessarily reversed. A sudden change in the frequency, such as you suddenly stopping, slowing or speeding up, can abruptly change the effect on the mug however the fluid within the vessel is not changed at the same rate and thus it can breach the edge of the mug.

According Wolchover, of one of the linked articles,

“Coffee drinkers often attempt to walk quickly with their cups, as if they might manage to reach their destination before their sloshing java waves reach a critical height. This method is scientifically flawed. It turns out that the faster you walk, the closer your gait comes to the natural sloshing frequency of coffee. To avoid driving the oscillations that lead to a spillage, walk slowly.” The other valid suggestions were to watch the mug and to accelerate slowly.

We take the easier route. Maybe we are smarter, maybe lazier, and maybe just tired of always analyzing things … . . we choose a container with a damn lid. Can you say “Einstein-ian” ? We don’t like coffee sloshing on our clothes or rugs.

Shawn and Ivo ………… jacked up on Joe.  Get you never thought we would be able to turn coffee-talk into a gait article huh ?  And you thought we would run out of gait stuff to talk about !

Article links that provided the inspiration for today’s post, and that we referenced.

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2012/06/04/rhythmic.firing.nerve.cells.involved.bodys.movements

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47364282/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.T-OZQXBPH4g

* remember: by clicking on the YOUTUBE logo in the lower right you will be immediately linked to a larger viewing screen on youtube.

This is a video case of a triathlete who presented with left calf pain and right quadriceps leg pain after months of training. In the video we discuss altered ankle rocker (dorsiflexion), lower crossed syndrome, altered arm swing patterning, unilateral quadriceps tightness and several other functional gait pathologies with this case.

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Neuromechanics weekly: proprioceptive clues in Children’s Gait.

We can learn a lot about gait from watching our children walk. An immature nervous system is very similar to one which is compensating meaning cheating around a more proper and desirable movement pattern; we often resort to a more primitive state when challenges beyond our ability are presented. This is very common when we lose some aspect of proprioception, particularly from some peripheral joint or muscle, which in turn, leads to a loss of cerebellar input (and thus cerebellar function). Remember, the cerebellum is a temporal pattern generating center so a loss of cerebellar sensory input leads to poor pattern generation output. Watch this clip several times and then try and note each of the following:

• wide based gait; this is because proprioception is still developing (joint and muscle mechanoreceptors and of course, the spino cerebellar pathways and motor cortex)
• increased progression angle of the feet: this again is to try and retain stability. External rotation allows them to access a greater portion of the glute max and the frontal plane (engaging an additional plane is always more stable).
• shortened step length; this keeps the center of gravity close to the body and makes corrections for errors that much easier (remember our myelopathy case from last week ? LINK.  This immature DEVELOPING system is very much like a mature system that is REGRESSING.  This is a paramount learning point !)
• decreased speed of movement; this allows more time to process proprioceptive clues, creating accuracy of motion

Remember that Crosby, Still, Nash and young song “Teach Your Children”? It is more like, “teach your parents”…

Proprioceptive clues are an important aspect of gait analysis, in both the young and old, especially since we tend to revert back to an earlier phase of development when we have an injury or dysfunction.

Ivo and Shawn. Still bald, still good looking, with intact cerebellums and neocortices : )

Biomechanist challenges idea that forefoot strike pattern reduces runners’ injury rate→

Cites lack of conclusive evidence

By Jordana Bieze Foster

http://www.lowerextremityreview.com/issues/may/biomechanist-challenges-idea-that-forefoot-strike-pattern-reduces-runners-injury-rate

“UMass researchers have demonstrated that, although forefoot strikers do not experience a vertical ground reaction force “impact peak,” they do experience impacts during running, albeit at lower frequencies than rearfoot strikers. This research, presented last summer at the American College of Sports Medicine meeting in Denver, suggests that because those lower frequencies are attenuated by muscle tissues, while higher frequencies are attenuated by bone, forefoot strikers may actually face a higher risk of muscle injury than rearfoot strikers.

Claims that loading rate is significantly lower in forefoot strikers than rearfoot strikers also may not be entirely accurate, Hamill said. He cited research from Iowa State University, scheduled to be presented in August at the annual meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics, suggesting that when natural forefoot strikers switch to a rearfoot strike pattern, their loading rate actually decreases.

Research, most notably the oft-cited Harvard study published in Nature in 2010, have found higher magnitudes of ground reaction force in rearfoot strikers than in forefoot strikers. However, Hamill noted, the heel is a much less delicate structure than the forefoot and therefore may be better suited to absorb higher forces.”

Dear Dr. Lieberman : Some vital facts on forefoot running are not being discussed.→

A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain. -Mildred Wite Stouven.

Today’s blog article is likely to bring flames to our feet, but we are not afraid of the heat.  At the very least we will settle for the heat this article may bring so that our work can get the recognition we feel it deserves and so the truth can be brought to light for the good of all mankind.

“Forefoot strike causes less impact force on the body,” says co-author Daniel Lieberman, Ph.D., a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard and scribe of a popular barefoot running manifesto in 2010. “People forget that running is a skill, and if you don’t run properly, you’ll get injured.”

Amen to that; we have been saying that for years before this all became popular talk …

We recently read this article in Men’s Health, yet another one supportive of minimalism running. And once again some of the most important facts are being left out. We just cannot sit here and watch the inaccuracies of minimalism and forefoot running continue to root themselves without policing. So, let us once again set foot into the raging battle.

According to the article (LINK) Sturtz says, “Landing on your forefoot, the way humans have run for thousands of years, produces almost zero impact on joints and bones, according to Lieberman’s 2010 study. But 75 percent of us now land heel first—cushioned running shoes made that possible (and comfortable)—which slams up to 3 times the body’s weight in impact force on your knees and legs.”

Our question is, “ Why is no one paying attention to foot types?” In every lecture we do, to clinicians or everyday runners, about “forefoot type” variants (valgus and varus to be precise) we comment that this is something that should be talked about during Running Form Clinics where forefoot landing is promoted. 

“… forefoot running is not the whole answer to injury prevention, just a component”, says Lieberman. “This is not a simple solution to a complex problem—you can’t change one thing and have everything be fine. You can still forefoot strike with poor form.”

And we would add to that quote that “you can get a resultant compensatory running form if you forefoot strike with a forefoot varus or forefoot valgus”. Not everyone has that pristine neutral forefoot bipod architecture that the internet articles are assuming exists in everyone, and thus there is no way that everyone has fully competent pristine forefoot biomechanics that will not eventually trigger injury. This is a fact, not our opinion. 

Dr Lieberman then goes on to say: “ If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

We respectfully disagree. We do this on a daily basis (as do many of you).  If the check engine light on your dashboard is flashing at you every day for a week you would be remiss not to consider the repercussions.  “The car ain’t broken… YET” is a more precise comment. You would be wise not to go on a long distance car trip knowing this fact.  Translating this to forefoot load/strike running, ignoring a potential injury because of flawed forefoot anatomy and biomechanics is a recipe for injury.  Just because it isn’t broken YET doesn’t mean ignoring the issues will make them go away or make you immune. A few hundred or thousand miles on a forefoot variant can be an issue clinically and injury wise.

Just because the body isn’t broken YET doesn’t mean it cannot work better and prevent a problem down the road. Dr Lieberman then goes on to quote, “Remember, almost every distance runner gets injured".  Why is he batting from both sides of the plate here? If “Landing on your forefoot, the way humans have run for thousands of years, produces almost zero impact on joints and bones”, according to Lieberman’s 2010 study then why would he go on to say “Almost every distance runner gets injured”?  There has to be a reason !  Forefoot running is either the answer or it isn’t.  Our valid and ignored proposal above, and our repeated comments throughout our 500+ blog posts on this topic on foot types, is a valid answer to his injury assumption.  It is quite possible that these inevitable injuries occur because people take the advice of “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”.  It is also most likely that ignorance of the deeper facts is bliss for most people. .Had they spent the time to find out about their forefoot type and learn to modify subtle biomechanical flaws of forefoot loading strategies of their foot type, perhaps we wouldn’t hear “Remember, almost every distance runner gets injured".   Maybe that is why you SHOULD look into fixing things that are not YET broken and at the very least learn about foot types, particularly which one you have and the potential risks it exposes you to. Our blog here has done this in depth over the last year. 

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” -Benjamin Franklin.  Anyone is medicine knows this is true (or should).

We prefer midfoot strike when possible, for many reasons but mainly because it takes into account a tripod contact loading response.  A tripod load is more stable than a rear foot unipod load and more stable than a forefoot bipod load, particularly when there are rear or forefoot variants (rearfoot valgus, rearfoot varus, forefoot valgus, forefoot varus) from the pristine normal that is always assumed in many articles.   A tripod loading response (midfoot strike) can dampen some of the mechanical flaws of either heel or forefoot strike patterns and of the foot type variants that are the norm, not the exception.

We see this stuff everyday in our practices. We are the guys that get the injury cases that are driven by the inaccuracies, or better put “overlooked facts”, of articles on the internet. To be fair, we have also written a fair number of articles for magazines and we know how they can get so chopped down that truth, honesty and full disclosure can be lost for the sake of publication limitations. None the less, our strong opinion, this article could have been far more complete had it talked about the issues we have brought to light here.  We love and respect the work of Lieberman and his colleagues.  He and his colleagues have done a huge service to the runners of the world and we have learned from them. Learning is a lifelong journey for us all and we just think that there is a huge information gap that is being missed and we feel it is time that the runners of the world hear the whole truth. We believe our work is filling that gap.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

For the past year, we have been feeling a bit like Gandhi must have felt. We realize that some of our work is complicated, difficult to understand, and tough to digest. We know we are laughed at by some who prefer to seek the safety of ignorance. And yes, despite 600 blog posts on these very topics (yes, we have one of the most informative blogs and YouTube Channels on the web for runners and athletes looking for answers) we feel somewhat ignored. None the less, we continue to stick our necks out far and long to set the record straight to make sure that everyone knows the facts they deserve to know.   We hope you will forward, link, Facebook and tweet the hell out of our blog post today, for the good of every runner and athlete you know and for the whole of mankind.  We are in this for the long haul. Stick and stones … .       - Drs. Shawn and Ivo …  The Gait Guys

here is the article that spurred our post:

http://news.menshealth.com/fix-your-running-form/2012/01/24/

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Clearing that long leg….

Even MORE on short legs…

We remember from last week, and the week before, there at least SIX common compensations for a short leg.

We recounted them and spoke about leaning to the side of the short leg last time. Here are the others, in case you need a reminder:

•  pronation of the longer side, supination of the shorter
• circumduction of the longer leg around the shorter
•  hip hike on long leg side (seen as contraction of hip abductors, obliques and quadratus  lumborum on short leg side)
• excessive ankle plantar flexion on short side
•  excessive knee bend on the long leg side

Lets look at “circumduction" of the longer extremity. Swinging the longer leg out and around helps to create clearance for the longer leg.  It makes no difference if the leg is functionally or structurally short, the body still needs a strategy to move around the asymmetry. This can sometimes occur with one of the other compensations, but we usually see it by itself.

This compensation often occurs with a pelvic dip on the same side, due to weakness of the gluteus medius complex.

Watch the above video (which we slowed down for you) that we captured on “the Gait Cam” a few times to see what we are talking about. This person has a left short leg and has a pelvic drift during stance phase to that side . We slowed it down so it is easier to see.

Remember here is that what you are seeing is the compensation, not necessarily the problem. When one leg is shorter, something must be done to get the longer leg through swing phase.

Circumduction….Tautological gait…Increasing your gait vocabulary on a daily basis..

Ivo and Shawn.

A brief story by Ack Simon Dedman:

A lecturer at a university is giving a pre-exam lecture on time management. On his desk is a bag of sand, a bag of pebbles, some big rocks and bucket. He asks for a volunteer to put all three grades of stone into the bucket, and a keen student duly steps up to carry out the task, starting with the sand, then the pebbles, then the rocks, which do not all fit in the bucket.

“The is an analogy of poor time management,” trills the lecturer, “If you’d have put the rocks in first, then the pebbles, then the sand, all three would have fit. This is much like time management, in that by completing your biggest tasks first, you leave room to complete your medium tasks, then your smaller ones. By completing your smallest tasks first you spend so much time on them you leave yourself unable to complete either medium of large tasks satisfactorily. Let me show you..”

And the lecturer re-fills the bucket, big rocks first, then pebbles, then sand, shaking the bucket between each so that everything fits.

“But Sir,” says one student, slouched at the back of the theatre, “You’ve forgotten one thing..”

At which the student approaches the bucket, produces a can of lager, opens it and pours into the bucket. “No matter how busy you are,” quips the student with a smile, “There’s always time for a quick beer.”

One of our goals is to make you think outside the box to solve clinical problems, and to fill your “bucket”. We also hope you have a good time while doing it : )

The Gait Guys

What is driving our patterned movements such as gait and running ?→

ScienceDaily (June 3, 2012) — A new finding that motor cortex is a dynamic pattern generator upends existing theory with broad implications for neuroscience.

Maybe it is actually easier to understand than we thought. A new paper presents some compelling evidence that the motor cortex, rather than being command central, is more like a part of the machine, sending rhythmic signals down the spinal cord to orchestrate movement. 

“The electrical signal that drives a given movement is therefore an amalgam – a summation – of the rhythms of all the motor neurons firing at a given moment.”

This is of course monitored (and modified) by one of our best friends, the cerebellum.

Check it out here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120603191720.htm#.T8yrhOzhvGk.facebook

Ivo and Shawn…Geeky….Cool….Hey, geeky is the new cool. Don’t laugh, you a re a geek as well if you are reading this post : )

Welcome to Friday. Today we have a particularly gruesome post (literally). This was inspired by an NCIS episode we saw, sometime in the 8th season.

Zombies are a peculiar lot. Not wanting to limit our analysis to the living, we have begun to examine the undead.

In this clip (there are many available), we note that a common characteristic seems to be partial paralysis of an lower and/or upper extremity, along with the peculiar behavior of keeping their upper extremities in a flexed posture, similar to a stroke. They also seem to have an exaggerated gag reflex and difficulty with phonation (talking).  We believe this is a neurological phenomenon, based on the fact that the only way to truly kill a zombie is to kill their brain.

Have a great Friday!

Ivo and Shawn

Foot maturation in children is reached by 5 years old

source article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21257173

Gait development begins early! Start good mechanics in your kids! “Based on these results, it would appear that foot maturation during gait is fully achieved at 5 years”

Foot mechanics during the first six years of Independent Walking J Biomech. 2011 Jan 21. [Epub ahead of print]

“the MP joint biomechanical parameters were similar between children (older than 2 years) and adults, hinting at a quick maturation of this joint mechanics. The ankle joint parameters and the GRFs (except for the frontal plane) showed an adult-like pattern in 5-year-old children. Some ankle joint parameters, such as the joint power and the 3D angle α(M.ω) still evolved significantly until 3.5 years. Based on these results, it would appear that foot maturation during gait is fully achieved at 5 years.”