Podiatrists do an excellent job of seeing how the foot moves and how to correct foot imbalances both functional and structural.
This could be ‘inspired’ by a number of things happening in the foot, this blog is not to discount the excellent work podiatrists do around the world, but to suggest an extra movement system that promises only to enhance the results of the work they do.
Podiatrists have a problem. They are only taught about the foot. But it’s not their fault. They don’t have time to look closer. Upon close examination, that thing on the leg with five toes is extremely complex – entire courses have been designed around treating different aspects of the foot – such a complex and dynamic object it is.
Once a foot problem is identified, a patient might be given foot exercises, supportive wear or even a brace of some sort to address the problem directly.
But what else can be done to help support healing or prevention of a chronic foot injury?
The key question becomes this… When a foot problem arrives, how much blame goes to the ‘foot’, and how much to ‘other parts’ of the body?
Usually the foot gets all the attention… but what if there was… an accomplice?
The simple answer might be that the foot is 100% to blame all the time. But upon closer inspection, you might find a more complex answer awaits.
the amount of the body most foot professionals are given time to study
Once a problem is identified, is there anything that can be done to help correct the problem other than working on the foot in question?
There is.
Case in point. A foot has inadequate dorsiflexion (thats ‘bendability’ in non fancy science speak).
If we look at the foot, it might become evident how to solve a problem such as poor dorsiflexion – however if we treat only the foot, we risk missing out on a key partner in ankle dorsiflexion – hip extension.
Hip extension, you say? (hip extension happens a few different ways, mostly as you stand and the hips ‘open’ but also when you take a step forward with the right leg, the left hip will ‘open’ in the same way.
So how does hip extension affect ankle dorsiflexion? Take a look at the picture below of someone in midstride:
There are three major sections to make note of in connection to the back foot:
1. When the back foot is dorsiflexed (as it is in the above picture), the same side hip is extended
2. When the back foot is dorsiflexed, the same side hip is slightly rotated to the right (the hip starts to open to the right as the left foot steps forward, which is also when the right back foot starts dorsiflexing).
3. As the right foot draws back, the low back is in rotation to the left.
To keep things simple, lets use hip extension. If the hip does not extend, then it will draw the back foot up more quickly, which will result in the foot not moving in the same range as if the hip were extending naturally.
In short, if the hip doesn’t extend to a normal range then the foot is not called to dorsiflex to a normal range.
If a joint fails to move through a normal range, it will develop musculature and neurofacilitation as such that it does not favor that range of movement.
In conclusion - if a podiatrist wanted to make sure that their client had the very best chance of success post-treatment, it would make sense to be sure that they could:
Extend the hip with slight rotation to the right as they rotated their upper body to the left.
If you were to kneel on a bench, put the good leg forward and rotate your upper body to the left and grabbing onto something slowly draw yourself into the stretch, you would likely get a stretch exactly like the movement described above.
This is simply a brief look at how the body moves relative to the foot – for more information about this phenomenon or to get in touch with the author for an interview or more information, please comment on this blog below or contact james.atlas@comcast.net
Remember: Foot problems can be sparked, activated or exacerbated by a simple injury in another part of the body, or could be something that happens as part of a chronic problem in another part of the body. The treatment might begin in the foot, but it does not necessarily end there.
Jamie Atlas
Want to keep up to date with new articles?
Click this link to subscribe and receive updates every time I post a new ‘insight’!
Just want to get your fill of fitness insights?
Click this link to read the top 5 most popular posts from this blog to date:
