Welcome to Monday folks and news you can use! Have a patient with weak hip abductors? Here is another great closed chain gluteus medius/ Maximus/minimums exercise we utilize all the time called “"hip helicopters” Try it in yourself, then try it on your patients and clients, then teach others : )
Pod #100 Hill Running + Cortical Brain Brain Changes in Injuries, Plus leg length challenges, Sole vs Heel lifts, Varying your Running Surface, Frontal plane biomechanics, Baker Cyst and Popliteal Muscle problems and more !
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Other Gait Guys stuff
A. Podcast links:
direct download URL: http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegaitguys/pod_100f.mp3
permalink URL: http://thegaitguys.libsyn.com/podcast-100-hill-running-cortical-brain-brain-changes-in-injuries
B. iTunes link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-gait-guys-podcast/id559864138
C. Gait Guys online /download store (National Shoe Fit Certification & more !)
http://store.payloadz.com/results/results.aspx?m=80204
D. other web based Gait Guys lectures:
Monthly lectures at : www.onlinece.com type in Dr. Waerlop or Dr. Allen, ”Biomechanics”
-Our Book: Pedographs and Gait Analysis and Clinical Case Studies
Electronic copies available here:
-Amazon/Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Pedographs-Gait-Analysis-Clinical-Studies-ebook/dp/B00AC18M3E
-Barnes and Noble / Nook Reader:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pedographs-and-gait-analysis-ivo-waerlop-and-shawn-allen/1112754833?ean=9781466953895
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/pedographs-and-gait-analysis/id554516085?mt=11
-Hardcopy available from our publisher:
http://bookstore.trafford.com/Products/SKU-000155825/Pedographs-and-Gait-Analysis.aspx
Show Notes:
1 Cortical change in chronic low back pain
http://www.anatomy-physiotherapy.com/articles/other/nervous/1329-cortical-change-in-chronic-low-back-pain
-Chronic low back pain is characterised by a range of structural, functional and neurochemical changes within the brain. Functional changes in individuals with chronic low back pain are reflected in a cortical reorganization, altered cortical activity and altered cortical responsiveness.
2 Lifting weights can change the brain
http://www.techvibes.com/blog/lifting-weights-can-beneficially-change-structure-of-brain-2015-10-27
3 Importance of varying running surfaces
http://triathlon.competitor.com/2015/05/training/importance-varying-running-surfaces_100995
4 Emergence of postural patterns as a function of vision and translation frequency.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10322069
J Neurophysiol. 1999 May;81(5):2325-39.
Our results suggest that visual information was important to maintaining a fixed position of the head and trunk in space, whereas proprioceptive information was sufficient to produce stable coordinative patterns between the support surface and legs. *The CNS organizes postural patterns in this balance task as a function of available sensory information, biomechanical constraints, and translation frequency.
5 Previous hamstring injury is associated with altered kinematics.
“Previously injured athletes demonstrated significantly reduced biceps femoris muscle activation ratios with respect to ipsilateral gluteus maximus, ipsilateral erector spinae, ipsilateral external oblique, and contralateral rectus femoris in the late swing phase. We also detected sagittal asymmetry in hip flexion, pelvic tilt, and medial rotation of the knee effectively putting the hamstrings in a lengthened position just before heel strike.”
The biomechanics of running in athletes with previous hamstring injury: A case-control study. C. Daly1, U. McCarthy Persson2, R. Twycross-Lewis1, R. C. Woledge1,† andD. Morrissey1,
Have a patient with weak hip abductors? Here is a great closed chain gluteus medius exercise called “"hip airplanes” we utilize all the time. Try it in yourself, then try it on your patients and clients, then teach others : )
Can you imagine being unable to stop moving graciously? Imagine that every attempt to halt your walking or running was like smacking into a wall or stumbling to a halt ? Kind of like that amateur driver who uses no grace or finesse, every start is a stomp on the gas and every stop is a slamming on the brakes. Or can you imaging suffering from FOG (freezing of gait) as in some Parkinson’s patients ?
When we are healthy, we take locomotion for granted. When we are in pain, movement can become labored and challenging; when we have a neurologic disease to the locomotor centers, we can find it almost impossible. On occasion, it can be the seemingly simplest of things that can cause the greatest of difficulties, for example, we take stopping for granted and we underestimate the complexity of initiating movement. It is one of those things in life, you do not know what you have until you lose it. When was the last time you even thought about starting or stopping your movements ? It is so natural that the thought doesn’t even reach the surface of our conscious thought. When was the last time you walked towards your kitchen sink to wash the dishes and you consciously thought,
“ok, we are about 3 more steps from the sink, you had better slow down … . ok, 2 more steps … 1 more step, this is the last one … . ok, that is it, you have arrived at the sink, both feet stop moving … . . initiate double stance support, 50% weight on both feet… . . begin standing mode.”
There is a brainstem pathway specifically dedicated to control locomotor arrest. Activating this pathway stops locomotion, while inhibiting the pathway enables locomotion.
In the study below, researchers Julien Bouvier and Vittorio Caggiano together with Professor Ole Kiehn and colleagues studied how the complex brainstem neuronal circuits control locomotion in mice. What they found was this,
Neuronal populations in the Reticular Formation of the brain “constitute a major excitatory pathway to locomotor areas of the ventral spinal cord. Selective activation of these neurons (V2a) of the rostral medulla stops ongoing locomotor activity, owing to an inhibition of premotor locomotor networks in the spinal cord. Moreover, inactivation of such neurons decreases spontaneous stopping in vivo. Therefore, the V2a “stop neurons” represent a glutamatergic descending pathway that favors immobility and may thus help control the episodic nature of locomotion.”-Bouvier et al.
Human locomotion is an extremely complex task. It is one that requires all sensory and motor pathways to be intact and reflexive controls such as central pattern generators to function properly. Gait is a complex task that requires synchrony, rhythmicity, balance, coordination, endurance and strength to name a few. Initiating gait is highly complex, as is arresting one’s gait. We take for granted how complex these task are at coordinating muscles, joints, limbs, vision, proprioception, vestibular inputs and many other components not to forget the cerebral connection bring it all together to get us from one place to the next is a safe fashion. It is only when things go wrong that we realize how fragile, and how complex, the system truly is. Don’t believe us ? Well then, try to over ride the system next time you are coming to a curb at the corner of the busiest street in your town. Try to over ride the coordinated stop mechanism that enables you to suddenly stop perched on the curb, observing oncoming traffic, standing safely without falling into the lane.
Shawn Allen, one of The Gait Guys
“Descending command neurons in the brainstem that halt locomotion” by Julien Bouvier, Vittorio Caggiano, Roberto Leiras, Vanessa Caldeira, Carmelo Bellardita, Kira Balueva, Andrea Fuchs, and Ole Kiehn in Cell. Published online November 19 2015 doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.10.074
This brief blog post was inspired from this article on the same topic. http://neurosciencenews.com/v2a-neurons-locomotion-neuroscience-3119/
Now THERE”S some internal tibial torsion!
So, this gent came in to see us with L sided knee pain after it collapsed with an audible “pop” during a baseball game. He has +1/+2 laxity in his ACL on that side. He has subpatellar and joint line pain on full flexion, which is limited slightly to 130 (compared to 145 right)
We know he has internal torsion because a line drawn from the tibial tuberosity dropped inferiorly does not pass through or near the plane of the 2nd metatarsal (more on tibial torsions here)
What would you do? Here’s what we did:
Is it any wonder he injured his knee? Imagine placing the FOOT in the saggital plane, which places the knee FAR outside it; now load the joint an twist, OUCH!
Topics: Plus, How foot placement, the glutes and cross over gait all come together and make sense. Plus, discussions on vibration,proprioception, cerebellum and movement.
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A. Link to our server: http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegaitguys/pod_99final.mp3
Podcast Direct Download: http://thegaitguys.libsyn.com/podcast-99-how-foot-placement-the-glutes-and-cross-over-gait-all-come-together-and-make-sense
Other Gait Guys stuff
B. iTunes link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-gait-guys-podcast/id559864138
C. Gait Guys online /download store (National Shoe Fit Certification & more !)
http://store.payloadz.com/results/results.aspx?m=80204
D. other web based Gait Guys lectures:
Monthly lectures at : www.onlinece.com type in Dr. Waerlop or Dr. Allen, ”Biomechanics”
-Our Book: Pedographs and Gait Analysis and Clinical Case Studies
Electronic copies available here:
-Amazon/Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Pedographs-Gait-Analysis-Clinical-Studies-ebook/dp/B00AC18M3E
-Barnes and Noble / Nook Reader:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pedographs-and-gait-analysis-ivo-waerlop-and-shawn-allen/1112754833?ean=9781466953895
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/pedographs-and-gait-analysis/id554516085?mt=11
-Hardcopy available from our publisher:
http://bookstore.trafford.com/Products/SKU-000155825/Pedographs-and-Gait-Analysis.aspx
Show notes:
Evaluating the Differential Electrophysiological Effects of the Focal Vibrator on the Tendon and Muscle Belly in Healthy People ARTICLE in ANNALS OF REHABILITATION MEDICINE · AUGUST 2014 DOI: 10.5535/arm.2014.38.4.494 · Source: PubMed
J Neurophysiol. 2014 Jul 15;112(2):374-83. doi: 10.1152/jn.00138.2014. Epub 2014 Apr 30. A neuromechanical strategy for mediolateral foot placement in walking humans. Rankin BL
J Neurophysiol. 2015 Oct;114(4):2220-9. doi: 10.1152/jn.00551.2015. Epub 2015 Aug 19.
Hip proprioceptive feedback influences the control of mediolateral stability during human walking.
Roden-Reynolds DC1, Walker MH1, Wasserman CR1, Dean JC2.
Eur Spine J. 2015 May 26. [Epub ahead of print]
Prevalence of gluteus medius weakness in people with chronic low back pain compared to healthy controls.
Cooper NA1, Scavo KM, Strickland KJ, Tipayamongkol N, Nicholson JD, Bewyer DC, Sluka KA.
Prog Brain Res. 2004;143:353-66. Role of the cerebellum in the control and adaptation of gait in health and disease. Thach WT1, Bastian AJ.
You’d have to be smart to walk this lazy, and people are
Research suggests that humans are wired for laziness
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150910131451.htm#.VfWquNKaf3s.facebook
Jessica C. Selinger, Shawn M. O’Connor, Jeremy D. Wong, J. Maxwell Donelan. Humans Can Continuously Optimize Energetic Cost during Walking. Current Biology, 2015; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.08.016
The “Dodgy Foot”, a UK runner’s dilemma.
We get “help me” emails from all over the world on a regular basis. Recently we received this photo from a runner in Oxford, UK, The runner was frustrated, explaining a “dodgy foot”. We like the word.
dodg·y däjē/
-dishonest or unreliable; potentially dangerous; of low quality.
We can guarantee you that the solution here to this runner’s form issue is not wholly at the foot which appears “in toed” and slanted and appears ready to kick the back of the right heel, not to mention the knees that are about to brush together. Thus, merely working on their foot strike would be so remedial and corrupt that it would a crime.
Ivo and I do not take on cases via the internet because we cannot give all the information because we cannot examine the client, many do offer such services but people are not being given the whole story and we pledged long ago not to be part of the problem. Anyone who recommends exercises from things they see on a video gait analysis are basically doing the same disservice in our opinion. But sometimes, as in this case, their inquiry is simple, there is a photo or video and it allows us to highlight an important component of an individuals gait which can lead them on a road to appropriate discovery. This is one of those cases. I will not be presenting a solution, because I do not have the examination information I need, but I will propose a solid thought process that further investigation may afford progress towards resolution.
This is a non-pathologic cross over gait in my mind until proven otherwise, there may be other sources, causes and components, but when it quacks like a duck you’d be silly not to check for webbed feet. This runner even confirmed upon questioning that the left foot scuffs the inside of the right ankle/shin often, both sides scuff in fact but more left shoe on right shin. No Einsteinian epiphany there.
But, make no mistake, this is flawed gait mechanics. The left swing leg is clearly targeting a more medial placement, meaning limb adduction (active or passive or both is to be determined) and this is a product of the cross over gait (unfamiliar with the cross over gait ? SEARCH our blog for the term, you will need a few hours of free time to get through it all). Some would call the cross over gait a lazy gait, but I would rather term it an efficient gait taken too far that it has now become a liability, a liability in which they can no longer stabilize frontal plane sway/drift. A wider gait on the other hand, as in most sprinters, is less efficient but may procure more power and the wider base is more stable affording less frontal plane drift. Just go walk around your home and move from a very narrow line walking gait to a wide gait and you will feel a more powerful engagement of the glutes. Mind you, this is not a fix for cross over gaits, gosh, if it was only that simple !
This runner must investigate whether there is right frontal plane drift, and if it is in fact occurring, find the source of the drift. It can come from many places on either limb. (This client says they are scuffing both inside ankles, which is not atypical and so we likely have drift on both right and left). We have discussed many of them here in various places on the blog over the years. Now as for “Why” the foot looks in toed, well that can also come from many places. Quite simply the adducted limb once it leaves toe off can look like this. But, perhaps it is also a product of insufficient external rotation maintenance occurred during that left stance phase, affording more internal rotation which is being unchecked and observed here during early swing. Remember though, if this is in fact a cross over gait result, in this gait the limb approaches the ground unstacked (foot is too far inside a left hip joint plumb line) the foot will greet the ground at a far lateral strike and in supination. Pronation will thus be magnified and accelerated, if there is enough time before toe off. However, and you can try this on your own by walking around your home, put yourself in terminal stance at toe off. Make sure you have the foot inverted so you are toeing off the lateral toes (low gear toe off). Does this foot not look like the one in the photo ? Yes it does, now just lift the foot off the ground and you have reproduced this photo. And when combined with a right pelvis drift, the foot will sneak further medially appearing postured behind the right foot.
Keep this in mind as well, final pronation and efficient hallux (big toe) toe off does often not occur in someone who strikes the ground on a far lateral foot. I am sure this runner will now be aware of how poorly they toe off of the big toe, the hallux. They will tend to progress towards low gear toe off, off the lesser toes. This leaves the foot inverted and this is what you are seeing in her the photo above. That is a foot that is inverted and supinated and it carried through all the way through toe off and into early swing. It is a frequently component of the cross over gait, look for it, you will find it, often.
Final thoughts, certainly this can be an isolated left swing phase gluteus medius weakness enabling an adducted swing limb thus procuring a faulty medial foot placement, but it is still part of the cross over phenomenon. Most things when it comes to a linked human frame do not work in isolation. But i will leave you with a complicating factor and hopefully you will realize that gait analysis truly does require a physical exam, and without it you could be missing the big picture problem. What if she has a notable fixed anatomic internal tibia torsion on that left side. Yup, it could all be that simple, and that is not something you can fix, you learn to manage that one as a runner.
* Side bar rant: Look at any google search of runners photos and you will see this type of swing limb foot posturing often, far too often. And yes, you can take the stance that “I do it as well and i have no injuries or problems so what is the big deal?”. Our response is often “you do have an issue, it may be anatomic or functional, but you do have an asymmetrical gait and you think it is not a problem, YET”. And maybe you will run till you are 6 feet under and not have a problem because you have accomodated over many years and you are a great compensator, yes, some people get lucky. Some people also do not run enough miles that these issues express themselves clinically so lets be fair. But some of these people are reality deniers and spend their life buying the newest brace or gadget, trying a different shoe insert, orthotic or new shoe of the month and shop over and over again for another video gait analysis expert who can actually fix their pain or problem. And then there are those who have a 45 minute home exercise program that they need to do to keep their problems at bay, managing, not fixing anything. Or, they spend an hour a week on the web reading article after article on what are the top 4 exercises for iliotibial band syndrome for example. They shop for the newest Graston practitioner, the newest kinesio taping pattern, Voodoo bands, breathing patterns, compression socks etc. And sometimes they are the ones that say they still dont have a problem.You get the drift. Gosh darn it, find someone who knows what the hell they are doing and can help you fix the issues that are causing the problem. And yes, some of the above accoutrements may be assistive in that journey.
I have dealt with this unique toe off issue way too many times not to roll my eyes at it any longer. It is to the point that it is an automated evaluation and solution program that begins to run in my head. Once you see something enough times, you learn all of the variations and subtle nuiances that a problem can take on. But, trying to fit everyone into a similar solution model is where the novice coach, trainer or clinician will get into trouble. Trust us, it all starts with an examination, a true clinical physical examination. If one leaves the investigatory process to a series of screens or functional movement patterns, “activation” attempts, digital gait analysis or strength tests one is juggling chainsaws and the outcome you want is often not likely to occur. There is nothing wrong with making these components part of the investigation process, but on their own, they are not enough to get the honest answer many times. Of course, Ivo and i were not able to jump the pond and examine this runner with our own eyes and hands so today’s dialogue was merely to offer this runner some food for thought to open their mind to our thought process, in the hopes that they can find someone to help them solve the underlying problem and not merely make the gait look cleaner. Making someone’s walking or running gait look cleaner is not hard, but making it subconsciously competent and clean (without thought or effort) requires a fix to the underlying problem. We can ALMOST guarantee you that the solution here to this runner’s form issue is not wholly at the foot that looks in toed and slanted. Merely working on their foot strike would be so remedial and corrupt that it would a crime.
Dr. Shawn Allen, one of the gait guys
Look at your patients and clients shoes!
Can you see the varus cant to the heel counter of these shoes? This is an Asics Gel Kayano; a shoe we seem to see manufacturers defects in frequently. This could be a good thing for an overpronator, but could be a bad thing for a supinator. With a drop ( ramp delta) of 13 mm, and a narrow toe box, we are not huge fans…
Ivo and i have a bunch of screens we use to glean information as we move down through the examination tree. Here is one i like to use, it is quick and easy and allows you to check something functionally and quickly while a client turns over. It is a very VERY small piece of a larger puzzle, but it is knowing what to look for and then what to test to verify. You might not have noticed this clients limitations in a passive supine joint assessment, but often when you load them up, mobility and stability challenges start to blossom into something different. If you are thinking, “possible loss of right knee flexion or left hip flexion” you are on the right track, with *caveat. There is more to it, but it is a start. Hope to see you on www.onlinece.com next week for our new course, “thinking through functional pathologic biomechanics”.
* Caveat: The lack of joint flexion range doesn’t necessarily mean they need more flexion, it means their flexion mobility is lost and that might mean they need more stability there or elsewhere for the flexion to present. This is the challenge a screen provides, it doesn’t tell you what’s wrong, it tells you if they can or cannot do the screen. If they cannot, it’s your job to find out why, but giving this particular client flexion work (range or strength work) would have led to a quick demise in their status. Quite often a joint displaying less mobility displays such because it has insufficient stability (from lack of skill, endurance, strength, proprioceptive etc) , but this is not a hard and firm rule. It’s your commission to find out the functional limitation(s) that are leading to these deficits and challenges.
Sometimes you need to run that valgus post clear back to the heel!
A valgus post assists in pronation. Some fols have modereate to severe internal tibial torsion and need to be able to pronate more to get the knee into the saggital plane for patello femoral conflicts. They usually run from the tail of the 5th metatarsal forward, but sometimes need to run it clear back to the heel to get enough pronation to occur.
So, why does this gals L knee hurt, posterior and medial on the left?
Physical findings
Read on…
This particular muscle fires at heel strike and again from loading response until toe off (you can look at the diagram above if needed). It also acts as an acessory posterior cruciate ligament (PCL).
Think about the forces on the knee while descending hills or stairs. The momentum will carry the femur forward (or anteriorly). There needs to be something to reststrain this; enter the PCL.
Because of the laxity (and instability), the poplitues needs to fire to take up the slack. Palpation confirmed it being tender throughout its course, with most at the tibial attachment. The attachment is largest here, so that makes sense. The muscle also tested weak.
We gave her popliteus and 1 leg balancing exercises in addition to doing acupuncture (origin/insertion work) as pictured. 5 days later she was 60% improved. She may need to return to her ortho, depending on her response to additional care.
Think about the popliteus the next time someone has posterior medial knee pain, especially when descending.
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