The Mighty Multifidus

The multifidi are important proprioceptive sentinels for the low back, as well as the rest of the body, for virtually every activity you do weight bearing, including gait. They are implicated in many instances of low back pain, especially folks with flexion or extension intolerance, since their fiber orientation and thus mechanical advantage (or disadvantage) is dependent upon whether or not you are maintaining a normal lumbar lordosis.

Modalities which boost their function are an excellent adjunct to the rehabilitation process. Since they are not under volitional control (go ahead, try and contract your L2/L3 multifidus), they are innervated by the vestibulospinal tract and we must use proprioceptive work to engage them. Dry Needling is one modality that can help them to become functional again.

RESULTS and CONCLUSION:

"Significant difference was found in the percentage of change of muscle activation post needling between groups on the right side at level L4-5. A slight increase in the percentage of muscle activity, post procedure was observed in the dry needling group compared with the control group, although not significant in other segments examined. An improvement of back muscle function following dry needling procedure in healthy individuals was found. This implies that dry needling might stimulate motor nerve fibers and as such increase muscle activity."

see also our post here: https://tmblr.co/ZrRYjx14tXWrD

Dr Ivo Waerlop, one of The Gait Guys

J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2015 Sep 6. [Epub ahead of print] The immediate effect of dry needling on multifidus muscles' function in healthy individuals. Dar G1,2, Hicks GE3.

#gait, #gaitanalysis, #multifidus, #lowbackpain, #proprioception,#thegaitguys

A foot bump. What might this be, and mean?

A foot bump.
We see this kind of thing all the time. This is a fixed pes planus (flat foot). When we dorsiflex the big toe, the arch does not go up as you see in the photo. That is passive dorsiflexion, if the arch does not go up passively, there is no way you are actively going to achieve this. And, using an orthotic to "attempt" to raise this arch is not only pointless, but it is futile and it will likely cause them pain. This arch does not rise, no matter how hard you put up into it. The bump, that is the navicular bone, and its associated arthritic build up at the adjacent joints, and likely soft tissue accomodation/hypertrophy. You can't needle, ultrasound, tape, adjust or rub this bump away, so stop wasting your and your patient's time selling them that wasteful thinking. It ain't gonna happen.
This is what happens when someone earns a collapsed longitidinal arch, the 1st metatarsal no longer plantarflexes (arch up) and it becomes fixed in dorsiflexion, thus affecting the mechanics at the proximal aspect of the 1st ray complex (navicular-cuneiform-met intervals).
Why? This happened because this client has significantly compromised ankle mortise dorsiflexion, and they chose to find it at the next joint complex distally, as mentioned above. So, they are finding pseudo-ankle rocker at arch collapse? Yes, we discuss this often, more pronation will advance the tibia forward. It is not desirable, but moving forward has to occur, and some people have no choice but to find it from excessive internal rotation and pronation of the limb. And this is what happens when it happens over years. Now the deformity is painful itself in the shoe, it is a new set of problems for this client.
Can this problem occur in reverse ? Yes, a loss of hallux dorsiflexion can afford the same end result.
We have a rule, at the very VERY least, check the joint above and below the area of problem/symptom. Often you will find another piece of the puzzle causing your client's pain.

Tibial Torsion and Motion control shoes... Be Careful!

In this short video, Dr Ivo Waerlop of The Gait Guys discusses the pitfalls of using motion control shoes in folks with internal tibial torsion.

#thegaitguys, #gaitanalysis, #tibialtorsion, #motioncontrolshoes, #kneepain

Right arch pain, can you see a possible reason in this video?

Do you see a possible reason for right foot pain? There is something not kosher to be seen. It doesnt mean it is valid, or the cause, or that it is primary or secondary, but it should be something that cues up a clinical exam focus to rule in/rule out.
Answer below (don;'t read further, test yourself)
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the right hallux does not fully extend. And we know that hallux dorisflexion at the 1st MTP joint engages the windlass, and helps to plantarflex the 1st MET and raise the arch and prepare the foot for loading and for forefoot transition. If the hallux doesn't extend sufficiently (like in a hallux rigidus, painful turf toe etc) then we can have some loading issues. Just something to think about. In this case, it was the cause and answer. But might not always be such.

What do torsions and versions look like on exam?

Here, we talk about some of the basics from the clinical exam on femoral and tibial torsions

Dr Ivo Waerlop, one of The Gait Guys

#thegaitguys, #gait, #torsion, #tibial, #femoral

When your calf is weak, things can dorsiflex too much sometimes.

When your calf is weak, things can dorsiflex too much sometimes. Maybe this is why you have Achilles tendinopathy. Maybe.

When we run, we either heel strike, midfoot strike, or forefoot strike. The literature is pretty clear on this now, that any one of them is not better than the other and there are many variables that need to be taken into consideration (even though many folks, who stopped reading the studies long after the barefoot craze began, will proclaim at the grave of their mother that rearfoot strike and anything but zero drop shoes are the root of all evil).

However, if you are a forefoot striker, the calf complex must be durable, strong and have enough endurance that when the foot strike occurs, that over time the complex does not allow the heel drop to become excessive or uncontrolled to the point that the achilles tendon proper exceeds its capacity to tolerate the drop, the stretch load capacity. It is more complex than this, because when the heel drops too much, too far, too fast and the arch is not durable enough, the metatarsals may dorsiflex too much and compromise the arch and stiffness of the midfoot, this can also have its complications. A weak calf can impact the rest of the foot. Remember, when the forefoot is engaged on the ground, and the heel drops in an uncontrolled fashion, we are increasing ankle dorsiflexion too, and this may not be welcomed during a stance phase of running where we are hoping for sufficient foot stiffness to load across it and propulse off of it.

This study showed that "analysis revealed that male recruits with lower plantar flexor strength and increased dorsiflexion excursion were at a greater risk of Achilles tendon overuse injury".

Intrinsic risk factors for the development of achilles tendon overuse injury: a prospective study.

Mahieu NN, et al. Am J Sports Med. 2006.

Pigeon holed into a particular running form. Some thoughts.

We should not pigeon hole everyone into one of the major (often discussed) "running forms". Every person's running form has some unique parameters that work for them (and perhaps some components that do not work for them and lead to injury), and asking their body to do something else that you "deem" better for them because it looks right/better can at times lead to new issues or complications in resolving their complaints. Work with their system, their anatomy. Help them correct mechanical flaws related to their problems/complaints/injuries. Do not try to get everyone into one of the classically pristine and magazine cover running forms. As Allan on our FB page said, "gait correction requires work". And may we say this . . . . that prescribing corrective exercises does not mean they will spill over into their gait with positive changes. There must be teachable time that is hands on to help them blend over the corrective work into new gait patterns. This is a skill that takes a long time to learn and figure out, and each client is different and each client requires different cues and different exercises to tap into the desirable cues for them. This is why internet/youtube corrective exercise prescribed homework (ie. do this exercise to correct your iliotibial band syndrome) often does not work and sometimes creates new problems down the road. Why? . . . because there are holes missing when there is not a hands on exam to ensure the corrective work is the right work, and, just as importantly, it takes time and skill to show, demo, and translate how and why the homework will take over into a new gait pattern. Translation, corrective exercises do not guarantee a new gait pattern or new running form. There are so many bad examples we could use, "just going to the mechanic does not guarantee they will fix your car", "changing your tires does not necessarily make you a safer driver", "watching some youtube videos on learning to drive does not mean you actually know how to sit in a car and drive".

Adaptations and compensations.

. . . the entire system has to adapt to that deficiency. That means compensation. Now, does adding strength to that asymmetry (compensation) have a consequence. Most likely. Will it lead to injury? That is the question.

We are going to keep pounding sand on this one because we believe this is important.
All too often people are working out and strengthening their systems, and that is good. But, if they are strengthening a system that is asymmetric or strengthening a faulty pattern (clearly, as in too much arch collapse) they are likely overburdening the hierarchical system and a component of the chain of that system.
Now, many are going to argue, and we know who those folks are, they are going to argue that if the movement is not painful, if the posturing of the load is not painful, then it is not a problem. Sure, and that is easy to say, but there is no proof they are right either. And, we are not saying we are stonewalled right either, but we are trying to be logical with what we know and what some of the research says (yes, that fits our bias). But our eyes are open and we hear the arguments from the other side, but those arguments come from a crystal ball in our opinion. Truthfully, no one has that crystal ball and can see into the future to see if one side of this argument has any more "legs" to it.
However, we know that . . .

"Human movement is initiated, controlled and executed in a hierarchical system including the nervous system, muscle and tendon. If a component in the loop loses its integrity, the entire system has to adapt to that deficiency. Achilles tendon, when degenerated, exhibits lower stiffness. This local mechanical deficit may be compensated for by an alteration of motor commands from the CNS. These modulations in motor commands from the CNS may lead to altered activation of the agonist, synergist and antagonist muscles."- Chang and Kulig

So, when we see a pattern of loading that is aberrant, and especially when it is most likely playing into a client's painful presentation, it is an easier sell on the thought-arguments above. We know that the entire system has to adapt to deficiencies. It is how we are synergistically built. We have redundancies build into us that protect us. Compensation is part of the redundancy. So, does adding strength to that asymmetry (compensation) have a consequence? Most likely it does, in our opinion. Why allow an area to undergo more loading than we know it should, (ie. valgus knee loading) even if it is non-painful to a client ? Will it lead to eventual injury or pain? That is the question. But we have picked our side of the story, for now, until proven otherwise, and we work from that side of the line. For now.

"yet" is a powerful looming word.
When adding strength takes someones pain away, it doesn't mean you fixed them. It likely means you helped them adapt and protect and better negotiate the loads. However, it also does not mean that your instruction did not build a layer of initial protective strength that will not have a cost further down the road because it wasn't the right medicine for the problem.
When your cars alignment is off, and it is pulling the car to the right towards the ditch, pulling harder to the left on the steering wheel keeps the alignment aberrancy, and the ditch at bay. But nothing was fixed. You adapted and compensated. The problem is still sitting there. And you will get used to the adapted and compensated pattern of steering wheel pull in time. Until the next thing occurs. Maybe the tire will start to chirp in time, the treads silently wear unevenly, and maybe it will be your left shoulder that chirps at you, and not the car.

The squeaky wheel may get the grease, but the misaligned tire is ignored.

Shawn and Ivo, the gait guys

J Physiol. 2015 Aug 1; 593(Pt 15): 3373–3387.
Published online 2015 Jun 30. doi: 10.1113/JP270220
The neuromechanical adaptations to Achilles tendinosis
Yu-Jen Chang and Kornelia Kulig

#gait, #thegaitguys, #gaitcompensations, #gaitproblems, #compensations, #running, #walking, #genuvalgus, #pronation, #CNS, #synergist

The knee follows the arch/ankle.

*in the video, watch the left knee
Hopefully this video and post will make you think deeper about patellofemoral tracking, runners knee, meniscal issues and anterior knee pain syndromes as a whole.

This is subtle, but in this case, this is relevant to the LEFT knee complaints of this client.
When the foot complex is a little weak, the arch can collapse more than it should, rendering too much pronation, this means the talus will adduct, plantarflex and medially rotate more than it should. Since the tibia sits on top of this talus it must follow. This will allow more internal tibia spin (medial rotation) and this will drag the knee medially (it appears in the video to be a valgus load but it is more internal/medial rotation than valgus).
So, what the foot-ankle complex does, the knee follows. Conversely, when the knee moves medially or valgus because of a hip weakness (poor external rotation control) the foot will move medially.
So, are you going to "fix" this with an orthotic ? A stability shoe? Or are you going to actually help the client gain better control ?
You can see that our "raise the toes, to raise the arch" helps the client find the more appropriate arch posture with the help of more anterior compartment engagement and windlass effect at the 1st MPT-hallux joint. This is where our reteaching of the component parts via "motor chunking" via the Shuffle Walk (see our youtube channel) can help them control the rate and amount of arch "collapse" and thus control the rate of medial knee spin.
i say it on our podcast all the time, the knee is a simple sagittal hinge joint between 2 multiaxial joints. It is often a follower, not a leader.
Or you can bandaid this client with an expensive orthotic and never fix their problem. This keeps them coming back over and over for symptom management. It is a good business model (insert sarcasm), but helping this client learn and remedy their deficiency is a better one. Happy people talk to their friends, even strangers.

Shawn Allen, the other gait guy

#gait, #gaitproblems, #gaitanalysis, #ovepronation, #archcollapse, #valgusknee, #tibialspin, #internalhiprotation, #thegaitguys, #kneepain, #runnersknee, #patellapain, #anteriorkneepain

"You do not have a shoe problem, you have a "thing in the shoe problem", meaning, it is you."

We say this so often in our offices.
"You do not have a shoe problem, you have a "thing in the shoe problem", meaning, it is you."
Translation: compromised mechanics leading to tissue overloading.
But we all have to strongly consider that injury is a result of the loading you have not trained gradually into, failure to adapt and accommodate, excessive mileage without adequate tissue recovery,

From the article:
"So Napier and co-author Richard Willy from the University of Montana reviewed the highest-quality research featuring randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews.
"What we see is that there's really no high-level evidence that any running shoe design can prevent injuries," Napier said."

Now, to be honest, in our (the gait guys) opinion, there are times we do recommend a change in the foot wear for a client, and it is often because it appears to be working against someone mechanics and is a contributory factor in their injury or complaint. And sometimes that shoe recommendation is a temporary one, and sometimes a permanent one. We can use a shoe to help us get to a better/faster end point. After all, when we sprain an ankle sometime a brace or crutches are helpful and protective, of temporary value. A wisely chosen shoe can act the same if we are dealing with an acute achilles tendinopathy or a painful bunion for example. And in those cases we might recommend a shoe that can give us an assist. Sometime, when appropriate perhaps it is a shoe with a stronger medial post, perhaps one with a higher or lower heel drop/delta, or more or less stack height, or perhaps a mid/forefoot rocker built into the shoe. The truth is, people come in with functional or "fixed" pathology and sometimes pairing up a shoe to help us around some conflicting biomechanics can be temporarily, and sometimes permanently, helpful. But, the shoe is never the only answer, a wise clinician has many things they can utilize, all the way up the kinetic chain sometimes.
The more you know, the better you can assist someone.

Shawn Allen, one of the gait guys

#Nigg, #barefoot, #shoes, #stackheight, #heeldrop, #achillestendinitis, #bunion, #pronation, #supination, #running, #gait, #thegaitguys, #gaitanalysis, #gaitproblems, #gaitcompensation

Can the design of a running shoe help prevent injury? A B.C. researcher says he has the answer

Kelly Crowe · CBC News · Posted: Dec 15, 2018 9:00 AM ET

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/running-shoe-injury-prevention-second-opinion-1.4947408?fbclid=IwAR3XaGPdgfQ68wj2N0tHqIamDdpYuxTIIL2LeudUd-doYN8YqQrIZI9-s9E

The Alex Honnold climb you haven’t heard about.

On janurary 15, 2014 Alex Honnold, Free-Soloed El Sendero Luminoso (The Shining Path) in El Potrero Chico, Mexico in a little over 3 hours. The climb rises 2500 feet to the summit of El Toro. At the time, it was considered to possibly be the most difficult rope-less climb in history, . . . until El Capitan.

An Alternate View of Crawling and Quadrupedal Motor Patterns: A Correlation to Free Solo Mountain Climbers ?

snippet from our redux blog post (link below):
"The interlimb coordination in climbing and crawling biomechanics shares similar features to other quadrupeds, both primate and non-primate, because of similarities in our central pattern generators (CPG’s). New research has however determined that the spaciotemportal patterns of spinal cord activity that helps to mediate and coordinate arm and leg function both centrally, and on a cord mediated level, significantly differ between the quadruped and bipedal gaits."

Blog link:

https://www.thegaitguys.com/thedailyblog/2019/2/10/an-alternate-view-of-crawling-and-quadrupedal-motor-patterns-a-correlation-to-free-solo-mountain-climbers-?fbclid=IwAR314kcjj6_KCnIczXksa6_5qUDQfy30NEPseH_RBmgVYEzNRSHcm8hq-IQ

What do the hip flexors have to do with the knee extensors ?

"It is not about your test, it is what your client displays in your test that matters. They will try to find a way. The load has to go somewhere, and they will find a place to put it, they always do. Finding out how your client cheats, compensates, recruits and fails is the value of the assessment."

This is just a small example of how I approach a client through small assessment window.
As best as I am able, knowing the absolute limitations of a supine examinations translation to vertical loading, I will approach a client's ability to stabilize in all 3 planes of movement. Today, i will micro-dissect a thought process.

The straight leg resistance test (SLR):
just a few incomplete thoughts on a SAGITTAL perspective (so as to avoid writing a book).
I will do it looking at **pelvis posture (anterior, posterior, oblique), lumbar spine posture (incr/decr lordosis), if they can keep their knee locked in a position, does the pelvis rotate, do they want to deviate into internal or external rotation at the hip, do they plantar or dorsiflex their ankle or toes. Lots to see here in how a client will recruit, and this is just a small snapshot of things they might do. Yes, head position, arm position were left out , again, to avoid a longer post today.
I will add consistent (as best as possible) resistance in the SLR test , with full locked knee, at hip 30, 45 and then full straight leg SLR (at the client's hamstring tension limit), then again at 45 degree knee lock with partial hip flexion, 90 degree hip and knee. I am changing loading vectors frequently to see if their is a directional loading failure. I am looking for their ability to provide ample resistance, and how they might cheat (see above).
But here is how my mind works through the test on the most basic level, which will give me insight on the above cheats** the client may employ.
* In the MOST SIMPLEST thought of the assessment, can they EFFECTIVELY stabilize the pelvis to the lumbar spine, can they stabilize the femur into the pelvis, can they stabilize the tibia onto the femur? It is how they choose to engage the system that matters, and that might be partly why their "Screen" shows up shoddy and may be a window into their pain.
The question is, if they fail, where are they failing and what tissues are overburdened or over protecting ? Where is the load, and where NOT is the load, going ?

"It is not about your test, it is what your client displays in your test that matters. They will try to find a way. The load has to go somewhere, and they will find a place to put it, they always do. Finding out how your client cheats, compensates, recruits and fails is the value of the assessment. This is how you need to be thinking when you perform many of the mostly useless orthopedic tests in the textbooks.

This is key,
a SLR screen will not show you any of this, it will just show you their range of motion, nothing more, not how they did it, what parts worked harder than other parts, and which parts are weak, injured or inhibited, for example. It is not what a client does, it is how they go about it that has the most value to you in helping them.

Today's article below is what spurred my rant today. It gives light that most already know, that everything is connected. And perhaps we can translate it into deeper thoughts for our clients, namely, what part is not doing its job, and where are they not connecting the parts, and where are they putting the loads ?

From the Ema study:
"Our findings indicate that hip flexion training results in substantial neuromuscular adaptations during knee extensions similar to those induced by knee extension training."-Ema et al.

We need a stable and strong core-spine-pelvis connection to display powerful knee extension, and, we need a stable and strong femur-pelvis connection as well. So, where is your client doing more or less of the work, and is it related to their hip, low back or knee pain? Or are they tossing it into the ankle perhaps? This is the beauty of the game we all play every day, if we are actually paying attention.

Now, remember my discussion last week about "adding strength to dysfunction" ? Where is your client going to put the load?, the answer, where they can/able. And that doesn't exactly mean where they should be putting it. Mindless prescription of corrective exercises is a real problem in my opinion.

Shawn Allen, the other gait guy.

#gait, #gaitproblems, #gaitanalysis, #correctiveexercises, #running, #hipflexors, #kneeextension, #SLR, #corestrength, #thegaitguys

Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2018 Mar;28(3):947-960. doi: 10.1111/sms.13008. Epub 2017 Nov 22.
Neuromuscular adaptations induced by adjacent joint training.
Ema R1,2, Saito I3, Akagi R1,3.

Imposter syndrome and careful what you say, and read.

Why most published research findings are false.
Ioannidis JP1.
PLoS Med. 2005 Aug;2(8):e124. Epub 2005 Aug 30.

"Simulations show that for most study designs and settings, it is more likely for a research claim to be false than true. Moreover, for many current scientific fields, claimed research findings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias. In this essay, I discuss the implications of these problems for the conduct and interpretation of research."

Artwork:
from what we can tell, a rework of @rundavidrun artwork, reworked by @MatthewJDalby. Thank you gentlemen.

People received an incomplete picture from a small slice of a clinical exam pie yesterday and made some bold , yet reasonable judgements admittedly. We admit they are germane points and arguments, though easily biased on this small slice video, and unfair in the bigger picture. I will always back Ivo, he is one of the smartest clinicians i know, and if you have listened to our podcast it should be clear to anyone that he can run circles around most with his deep well of knowledge. Dr. Ivo showed a video that discussed some of the things he likes to consider on an exam, not his entire exam, to discuss some things he likes to think about and incorporate into his exam sometimes, things that have become reliable patterns that work for him in practice. Many of us have gone through these exam methods at one time if we have been in the fields long enough, and many of us know that "i do not feel a darn thing that they say i am supposed to" BUT, when put into a full complete exam, for Ivo, these things meshed with other exam inputs honed over a 25+ year history in the field mean something to him. And bottom line, results speak. That is all that matters because a lot of research is often full of holes. I too have some old tricks in my bag that are admittedly somewhat unsupported, but in a bigger picture when all the exam intake variables are brought together, decades of experience allow us to use deeper clinical experience to bring forth some ideas on the client's pain and problems. If we were all to abandon all of our older tricks that have proven valuable, who suffers ? And for what? a few studies that question validity? Everyone's educational past is full of holes and ignorance that has been disproven (yes, even your high school physics knowledge has been rewritten, but it does not mean that the broader insights that have grown from said knowledge is wrong. For example, even today's Low back pain research is becoming more and more untenable in some studies as to the true source of the pain, this has been a huge topic of discussion on some forums by very intelligent people. We are all reading small pieces of new research that tell us "this thing" or that thing is of low reliabilty and we question ideas of old. Some new research is now suggesting that ACL tears do not need surgery, so do we just stop doing ACL repairs? No, that is foolish, but just because the new doesn't support the old doesn't mean the old is useless and without clinical value. Here is what matters, can you help the person in front of you ? That is what matters. How you assess and go about it is not what matters to your patient. Ivo is top shelf, period. There are few people that have the depth and breadth of his knowledge in neurology and if you knew his depth of physiology was even deeper you'd be fully blown away. Listen to one of our podcasts if you do not believe me, he can run circles around me, for what little that might be worth. Productive comments can be made to create a debate without being snide. You only show you are a turd and your true colors (brown) when you cannot be professional. We work hard here, if you can't be professional, go somewhere else, please.

Oh, and still want to question things, good, you should, we all should. So, here, question EVERYTHING then.
Then again, there are those that will question this too, as they should. And so, if we just left our selves to decide to only use things deemed valid per today's thin research standards (what is your predatory journal count up to these days?) , then we dismiss much of what we used in our past that we used to actually help people. Do i dare ask those slinging stones to remember this post when 20 years from now the then research might dismiss many of the things they presently deem "law" and solid research?

Bottom line, judge softly, with open eyes, a touch of wisdom and skepticism, and self honesty in the knowledge that much of what we do, and think we do, is also rubbish, but sometimes yet still seems to help people.
And for those who still think they know it all, look at today's art work.

Shawn Allen, humble partner of a wise man, wiser than most. Dr. Ivo

PLoS Med. 2005 Aug;2(8):e124. Epub 2005 Aug 30.
Why most published research findings are false.
Ioannidis JP1.
"Simulations show that for most study designs and settings, it is more likely for a research claim to be false than true. Moreover, for many current scientific fields, claimed research findings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias. In this essay, I discuss the implications of these problems for the conduct and interpretation of research."

Comment in

Modeling and research on research. [Clin Chem. 2014]
The clinical interpretation of research. [PLoS Med. 2005]
Minimizing mistakes and embracing uncertainty. [PLoS Med. 2005]
Truth, probability, and frameworks. [PLoS Med. 2005]
Power, reliability, and heterogeneous results. [PLoS Med. 2005]
Why most published research findings are false: problems in the analysis. [PLoS Med. 2007]
When research evidence is misleading. [Virtual Mentor. 2013]
The Value of P. [Am J Transplant. 2016]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16060722

another Patreon video cast study

Adding strength to dysfunction ?

Are you adding strength to dysfunction? Will you be apologizing?
We have been saying this for at least a decade now, glad Michael Boyle feels the same way (see his tweet below).
See ? we are not alone and crazy ! Other smart people are thinking the same things. This is just logic to us and seems Mike feels the same way. We do not fully understand the nay-sayers and push back on this topic.
And so, if you are not examining your client, rather just "movement screening" them and then making corrective exercise prescriptions based off of mere screen outcomes, you are likely, in our strong opinion, risking merely building strength on top of how they already are moving, which is quite possibly dysfunction.
Now, many will argue, a more durable pattern, even if it is dysfunctional, is less likely to be injured. And we can agree with that. But, if you are going to spend all that time, why not just fix the darn problem and then add durability on top of that sound loading pattern in the first place?

Are you going to leave that spare tire on the car just because it drives fine? There is a reason you don't tow a trailer with a spare tire on, and there is a reason you do not drive it at 100mph either. Get the original tire fixed darnit ! Do not settle with, "hey it works fine right now! Leave it alone!" (doh !)

Adding compensations to compensations can have ramifications down the road.
Do you want to be apologizing down the road? Scratching your head asking, "is this a result of what i recommended?"

hmmmmm
It should make you think more about what you are doing, everyday. It sure keeps us in line, everyday.
Makes you ask the hard question of why you are recommending something.
Sorry for the continuous 10 year rant on this. But it is nice to know we are not alone.

shawn allen, one of the gait guys.

#gait, #gaitcompensations, #gaitproblems, #dysfunction, #compensations, #strengthfirst

Knee pain and the the semitendinosis?

image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slide2DADE.JPG

The semitendinosus hails from the posterior compartment.

During an ideal gait cycle, the semitendinosus from mid swing through nearly loading response, with a brief firing at toe off.

We remember that the abdominals should initiate thigh flexion with the iliopsoas, rectus femoris, tensor fascia lata and sartorius perpetuating the motion. Sometimes, when the abdominals are insufficient, we will substitute other thigh flexors, often the psoas and/or rectus femoris, but sometimes sartorius, especially in people with excessive midfoot pronation. Think about all of the medial rotation occurring at the knee during excessive midfoot pronation and when overpronation occurs, the extra compensatory external rotation that must occur to try and bring the knee back into the sagittal plane. The sartorius is positioned perfectly for this function, along with the semitendinosus which assists and external rotation and closed chain.

The semitendinosis is the most superficial of the hamstrings and originates between the biceps femoris, with which it shares a common tendinous attchment, which is anterior and slightly lateral and the semimembranosis which is just beneath it and slightly medial. It is fusiform and the muscle body ends about mid thigh, before becoming a long "piano string" and ultimately inserting most inferiorly of the trio, below the gracilis, on the pes anserine.

Call it pes anserinus bursitis or pes anserine tendinitis but they both add up to medial knee pain when the thigh needs help flexing. Look to this troublesome trio the next time you have recalcitrant medial knee pain.

Dr Ivo Waerlop, one of The Gait Guys

#gait, #gaitanalysis, #gaitdysfunction, #thegaitguys, #pesanserine, #semitendinosis

Imani F, Rahimzadeh P, Abolhasan Gharehdag F, Faiz SH. Sonoanatomic variation of pes anserine bursa. Korean J Pain. 2013;26(3):249-54. 

Gupta, Aman & Saraf, Abhinesh & Yadav, Chandrajeet. (2013). ISSN 2347-954X (Print) High-Resolution Ultrasonography in PesAnserinus Bursitis: Case Report and Literature Review. 1. 753-757. 

Gray H:  Anatomy of the Human Body  Lea and Febiger, Phildelphia and New York 1918

https://www.anatomy-physiotherapy.com/knee/articles/systems/musculoskeletal/lower-extremity/knee/test-your-knowledge-the-pes-anserinus

 Michaud T: in Foot Orthoses and Other Forms of Conservative Foot Care Williams & Wilkins, 1993 Pp. 50-55

 Michaud T: in Human Locomotion: The Conservative Management of Gait-Related Disorders 2011

Climbing and quadrupedal patterns . . .

video: 14 year old “sends” V15 , a 30 move roof climb in Hiei, Japan, called “Horizon”.

Look closely. In the video, a then 9 year old Ashima is climbing upside down, a roof climb, defying gravity’s push. Spin this picture 180 and she is crawling, finding points of “fixation” or “punctum fixum”. What is neat about climbing is that you can have one, two, three or four points of fixation, unlike walking (one or two points) and crawling (two, three or four points of fixation). The difference in climbing is that gravity is a bear, wearing you down, little by little. A deep similarity in climbing to any variety of crawling is that both involve pulling and pushing, compressing and extending over fixation points. Other common principles are those of fixation, stability, mobility and neurologic crawling patterns in order to progress. This is one of the reasons why I respect and love Jiu jitsu so much, rolling, tumbling, crawling, pulling and pushing, compressing and extending over fixation points.

“the present work showed that human QL (quadrupedal locomotion) may spontaneously occur in humans with an unimpaired brain, probably using the ancestral locomotor networks for the diagonal sequence preserved for about the last 400 million years.” - 2005 Shapiro and Raichien

In climbing there is suspicion of a shift in the central pattern generators because of the extraordinary demand by pseudo-quadrupedal gait climbing due to the demand on the upper limbs and their motorneuron pools to mobilize the organism up the mountain. We know these quadrupedal circuits exist. In 2005 Shapiro and Raichien wrote “the present work showed that human QL (quadrupedal locomotion) may spontaneously occur in humans with an unimpaired brain, probably using the ancestral locomotor networks for the diagonal sequence preserved for about the last 400 million years.”

read our whole piece here, on our site . . . .

https://www.thegaitguys.com/thedailyblog/gait-and-climbing-and-dns-part-2-introducing?fbclid=IwAR1RtpRJyVzpd5EZ-lv-2vvI76nBjcRcW-KZANN7_wFzAYENtscDPNLBwLU

Do her hips get weak, fatigue, or both when she runs?

“ Both healthy and injured runners demonstrated decreased gluteus medius strength following the run to fatigue (p = 0.01), but there was no interaction between groups (p = 0.78). EMG onset activation timing did not differ between groups for the gluteus medius (P = 0.19) and tensor fascia latae muscles (P = 0.52). Injured runners demonstrated decreased gluteus medius initial median frequency values suggestive of fatigue (P = 0.01). These findings suggest that the gluteus medius muscle of female runners with ITBS does not demonstrate gross strength impairments but does demonstrate less resistance to fatigue. Clinicians should consider implementation of a gluteus medius endurance training regimen into a runner's rehabilitation program. “

Dr Ivo Waerlop, one of The Gait Guys

#gait, #gaitanalysis, #fatigue, #gluteusmedius, #gluteusminimus, ITB, #ITbandsyndrome, #thegaitguys

Brown AM, Zifchock RA, Lenhoff M, Song J, Hillstrom HJ. Hip muscle response to a fatiguing run in females with iliotibial band syndrome. Hum Mov Sci. 2019 Feb 8;64:181-190. doi: 10.1016/j.humov.2019.02.002. [Epub ahead of print]

House MD. : Is he using his cane on the correct side ?

House MD. : Is he using his cane on the correct side ? (hint: vascular infarct to the quadriceps muscle)

*disclaimer: Note to listeners…. there is controversy over the lyrics, there always has been and always will be …..but they are listed below at the end of the post.)

When can you ever go wrong with AC/DC ? Combine that with Hugh Laurie from HOUSE MD and you have a great mix.

So, watching this video, why is he using his cane incorrectly? We all know that House’s has a problem with the right hip and leg. “The Rules” state that with a hip problem the cane should always be used on the opposite side to change the D2 lever arm (great lesson on this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLFQOKVO6X4&feature=youtu.be). After watching this Gait Guys videos you will clearly understand (perhaps to a better level than most of your therapists and doctors who gave you the cane) why it is used on the opposite side.

So, why in the world is the brilliant Dr. House using it on the same side ? We have received this question more than once. And the answer is quite simple. His problem is likely extracapsular. In the pilot episode of House MD it was explained that he suffered a vascular infarct to the quadriceps muscle. Like bone infarcts, muscular infarcts can be painful. If he contracts the quadriceps when loading the leg there will be pain. Just like if the infarct were osseous, the loading of the cortical bone and stress on the trabecular infrastructure in that case, axial loading of the limb (muscular or osseous) will drive pain. So, to lessen the issue he uses the cane on the same side to literally share his body mass load over the length of the cane and splinting of his body mass through that right arm and the cane. He is essentially attempting to use the cane as his weight bearing limb, same as if using crutches. The cane use on the opposite side is best used when you are attempting to unload the muscular compressive forces across the hip (acetabulofemoral) joint. Contraction of the gluteus medius generates the greatest joint compressive loading of all of the hip muscles because of its orientation during gait. Thus, utilizing the cane on the opposite side acts as a hydraulic lift necessitating a shift in body mass closer to the joint and reducing the compressive demands on the gluteus medius muscle.

* Rule breaker: sure, you can still use the cane on the same side to reduce the gluteus medius forces, it is just a bit more awkward and arguably less efficient from a physics persective. But it can be done. Think about and elderly folk who had a weaker opposite arm, they would feel more comfortable using House’s strategy. The rules are not hard pressed.

* So, House is using the cane correctly for his condition. Of course, he is no dummy !

Rules are meant to be broken. When you are as smart as House you know when to break the rules.

Thanks for the reminder AC/DC ……lyrics

https://thegaitguys.tumblr.com/post/17823193087/house-md-is-he-using-his-cane-on-the-correct?fbclid=IwAR1pAHFxhByiSr1orgIKIkOqwj9W1F-dd-4jQ8BEPntlEztgrolwrT60mos

“Living easy, living free
Season ticket on a one-way ride
Hey Momma, look at me

"Four puckered anuses and a heel strike."

So you say you do "gait analysis" and "movement screens" huh ?
If you glaze past this post, well, that would be sad to us, we put a lot of time into sharing what we feel are important (and not necessarily right) thought experiments and thoughts.

In our opinion, and this upsets some folks, screens do not tell you much of anything beyond how someone is moving. They do not tell you why they are moving that way. They do not tell you what is wrong, or right, about a person's body or why they move, or why they screen the way they do. We could even put up a darn good debate of why they could be a waste of time, when uncoupled with a clinical examination.

Much like the excessive wear on this left heel (see photo) it merely tells you that the person is, FOR SOME REASON, impacting/scuffing that heel too much. It too does not tell you why they are moving that way. (The shoe case explained in a moment).

Giving someone a "corrective homework exercise or stretch" or new movement because you "think" they are failing a screening procedure is nothing more than confirmation bias on your existing knowledge base (which for ALL of us is limited, yet hopefully expanding). Your confirmation bias might be, "I know what this screen should look like, I know what my gurus have told me it should tell me, and this client just failed the screen, so here is what you need to do to make the screen look and test better and here is what will make the client "better" (whatever that is)."

It just cannot, and is not, that simple.

Similarly, it would be like telling this person not to heel strike so hard, "Stop heel striking, stop scuffing your heel !". It is just not that simple and it is foolish to think so. We need to get to the bottom of the problem, the root cause. This means we need to hands-on examine our client, and correlate said findings to the screens. Collectively, we are just gathering information to put together a cause effect for any of our patient's problems. But you cannot just make assumptions that stroke your confirmation bias. There is logical process in place, for a good reason.

Now, why is this guy scuffing his left heel? He has no left heel pain, no left leg pain, clean foot, ankle and hip mechanics on that left side (from detailed coupled screens correlated with a detailed hands on exam including neuromuscular strength, length, skill, length-tension relationships, endurance assessments etc).

And if you think we are not guilty or above all of these mistakes we are calling out, you are mistaken. WE are on the same bus as everyone else. WE are human, we have biases, so we have to check them everyday. Just the other day I told a patient he wasn't getting better because i made and assumption based off of what i saw in his gait, and i assumed he wasn't going to fail my hop test, that it was a different problem, so i looked elsewhere, found something that confirmed my bias, and they came back 2 weeks later saying "i did my homework, i am no better." I took them into the hallway, had them go through my hop screen, and damn if i wasn't ashamed of myself, i followed with some hands on exam, and dang if I wasn't a confirmed moron. So, we screw up too, more than we like to. Some people will say "that is why we call it a medical practice". That is a soft let down. Sure, it happens, but laziness and confirmation bias happens way more often in all of us we believe.

Look at the cartoon below, the parents think the kid loves the animal mobile. From their perspective, from their limited experience lying under an animal mobile, how could they know the kid was smiling because he/she was looking up at 4 anuses? Four puckered anuses (yes, the plural is not ani. We had to look it up, too !). Go ahead, laugh, we did.
*And so, if you do make corrective exercise recommendations off of a screen, without clinical hands-on exam correlation, may your kids paint animal anuses on your bedroom ceiling to remind you of their tortured infant years.
Perspective, like this infant here staring at buttholes of stuffed animals, is amazing. It is all too often how you approach things, and with the limited (or expansive) knowledge and experience you approach it with, as to what confirmation biases you lay on things, and how you go about solving things.

*Oh, as promised, this dude in the shoes, has markedly weak RIGHT hip abductors and RIGHT lateral core (from our hands on exam and then specific loaded screens to assess and help confirm these things). This means, right lateral pelvis drift. This confirmed the visual drop of the left hemipelvis during swing phase, which allowed the left foot to have challenged clearance (he could hear the heel scuff when walking). Yes, slight left cross over gait too. The corrective exercise is to improve the right hip and lateral core stability, and establish gait awareness homework to learn how to reengage those areas. The corrective exercises were not to force more LEFT hip flexion and knee flexion to gain more clearance and stop the heel scuff. A monkey could figure that out. But that would seem logical if no examination had been done.

PS: There is no need to check his pelvic floor (see infant mobile cartoon above to extrapolate that joke). But, if you made assumptions of what homework to give him based only off of a bunch of screens, heck, you might as well check his sphincter. What do you have to lose?

WE would LOVE, love love love to give credit to whoever drew this cartoon. There is no name on it, we NEED to give them credit. It is more than brilliant. IT is an entire lecture on perspective. Send us this genius person's contact if you know who it was ! Please !!!!!!

Shawn Allen, the other gait guy

#gait, #gaitproblems, #gaitanalysis, #movementscreens, #correctiveexercises, #thegaitguys, #heelstrike