tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post8658563035701378495..comments2023-12-14T01:25:00.917-05:00Comments on Recover Your Stride: Taking a Closer Look at the Ankle Joint: Dorsiflexion and MobilityJim Hansenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10350710709762823429noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-9055546467470781602012-03-11T23:03:40.027-04:002012-03-11T23:03:40.027-04:00Interesting observations. I am not sure if I have ...Interesting observations. I am not sure if I have an anteverted pelvis. I do have femoral anteversion on my left (bad) side. I am glad the Egoscue seems to be working and I will have to check out the similarities that you mention and give it more thought. One thing I think that makes my foot rotate more out is either a stuck fibula or cuboid muscle in the foot. A podiatrist has done manipulations for me on those bones that seem to work real well for a period of time. I think I need to go back to see him. He used to have videos on youtube, but they were recently removed.Jim Hansenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10350710709762823429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-69832728285998625572012-03-11T13:15:48.241-04:002012-03-11T13:15:48.241-04:00Hey Jim,
Same poster as above. My foot definitel...Hey Jim,<br /><br />Same poster as above. My foot definitely points out more than my knee. My knee goes straight ahead if my foot everts as it seems to naturally. If i put my feet together and face straight ahead, my knees point inward. If I push my hips forward in this position though, everything seems to line up pretty well. <br /><br />I want to work on strengthening my abs and gluteus maximus muscles, as these are the muscles I am contracting to tilt my hip back to normal when I am able to all be in line. Do you have an anteverted pelvis too? If I stand with my back to the wall, I can probably but a wine bottle between my lower back and the wall. That by itself is probably my biggest problem I think. I have also been going through the egoscue condition II exercises, and the inward knees exercises in Pain Free. I feel like I am seeing a little progress. I notice occasionally my footstrike feels differently recently, and its cause I am hitting the back on my heel when I walk like I am supposed to, instead of rolling off the side of my foot. <br /><br />I recently picked up Martha Peterson and Thomas Hanna's book. They are definitely fascinating and I plan on working in some of their exercises into my routine as well. It is amazing to me that the conditions in Health Through Motion are identical to the 3 types of reflexes described by Thomas Hanna.DonDraper1963/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-57963936731690082502012-02-29T18:56:53.056-05:002012-02-29T18:56:53.056-05:00If the Egoscue works, keep at it. If you think it ...If the Egoscue works, keep at it. If you think it is from the hip (my theory too) try Somatics as change will come much quicker than Egoscue as it is movement based. http://recoveryourstride.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-somatics-can-help-runners.html Does you knee point out along with the hip? Sometimes my foot points out more and I am learning that means that the fibula is getting stuck and I try to release that bone some. Keep me posted-particulary if you find an answer. Martha Peterson's Somatics site has some releases for the IT band. Check out her site for lots of good exercises that work on loosening up chronically tight muscles.Jim Hansenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10350710709762823429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-17529065086195708882012-02-29T18:07:31.925-05:002012-02-29T18:07:31.925-05:00I have the same issue, but with my right leg. I&#...I have the same issue, but with my right leg. I've been reading your blog from the beginning. I'm hoping by the time I get to the end you will have figured out the solution to this problem. I try to run, but by 2 or 3 miles in, my IT band is flaring up and my hip starts to hurt. I'm amazed at the number of miles you are able to run. <br /><br />I'm reading Egoscue books now and I hope to find some answers in there. I know that posture is my issue, I just need to find the best way to fix it. <br />-My right foot goes out more than the left, with a higher arch. My right shoulder goes forward, I think to help compensate for my right hip being elevated. So far I think the hips are the key to fixing the other problems. I've noticed that after a few days of doing the Egoscue exercises, my right foot is in better alignment. If you found the answer to this thing, please let me know. Thanks!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12941541742601289279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-27711882656154027572011-04-09T09:00:35.184-04:002011-04-09T09:00:35.184-04:00Yes, before I was a runner back in junior high sch...Yes, before I was a runner back in junior high school, I was told I had a leg-length discrepency of about 3/8" and Children's Hospital in Boston wanted to operate on my leg to stop the growth in one leg to let the other catch up. They wanted to do it before I reached my anticipated height of 5'8". By that time I already grown to 5'10" and never had the surgery. That was fortunate, too, I grew to 6'0". They did do the operation on my brother. At times the left leg seems longer, but a lift makes things worse. I think it is a more a functional discrepency. This summer one doctor and a PT said that my left leg was slightly shorter and then after some work they pretty much balanced again. Right now it doesn't matter too much as I am waiting for surgery for a labral tear in the left hip which may have been part of the problem too.Jim Hansenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10350710709762823429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-3593929072943263082011-04-09T07:46:27.712-04:002011-04-09T07:46:27.712-04:00have you looked at a structural leg length discrep...have you looked at a structural leg length discrepancy? A friend has it and his longer legs foot splays out just like yours. he also has tightness and pain in the hip and back on that area. Just a thought..Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-19340641172534815542009-12-19T17:38:42.123-05:002009-12-19T17:38:42.123-05:00Hi Markus,
Thanks for sharing your your struggle w...Hi Markus,<br />Thanks for sharing your your struggle with this dorsiflexion problem. It seems like we have traveled on similar journeys, minus your operation and using the jumpstretch band (I have read about those for use with back problems). I went to a physical therapist yesterday and it seems she does something called postural restoration. She was very curious about my ankle and measured and tested things like she knew what she was looking for. I did not recieve any exercises for the ankle yet but she made notes on my calves too. I did get exercises for my hips so I will be curious to see where this goes.<br />If you get it figured out, let me know! And your English skills are great.<br />JimJim Hansenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10350710709762823429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-11191856225746233392009-12-19T06:35:11.240-05:002009-12-19T06:35:11.240-05:00Hi,
I have the same problems. I tried these mobili...Hi,<br />I have the same problems. I tried these mobility drills and alot of calf stretches. The problem i run into is that i cant stretch my calves very well cause there is always pain and blockage in front of my foot were the tibia meets the foot. It feels like i jam something in there. I got orthodics in my shoes and its a little bit better now. I have this problem for years and tried PT, stretching, Z-Health, those mobilisations by Hartman/Boyle, i tried traction with bands like shown on jumpstretch. The thing i didn´t try was prolonged static stretching with those casts you can put on over night that keeps your foot dorsiflexed. I had op on this foot to reconstruct a band in there and maybe clean it up a little in there. The band was fixed and there was not much to clean up. I hoped maybe after the op there was more rom. I was wrong. There was no difference in rom at all but a more stable feeling so it was not useless. My doc just told me that dorsiflexion rom is hard or in some cases even impossible to get back. I´m not satisfied with his opinion and maybe one day i or somebody else will find a solution to my/our problem.<br /><br />P.S.: Sorry for my bad english. I don´t use it that often ;)Markusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-5952360113326162562009-12-12T09:54:30.254-05:002009-12-12T09:54:30.254-05:00Thank you for your response Adam,
A lot of what y...Thank you for your response Adam,<br /><br />A lot of what you say does ring true. I have noticed that when "things" feel good to me that my foot "stands" better on the floor and there seems to be a stronger lifted arch under the foot. One thing that I am noticing is that I also need to loosen and strengthen the muscles of the lower foot: the peroneals and the tibealis anterior. I have started doing this with the TPMassage products (here is a video that shows this: http://www.regentherapy.com/product_video/HowTo%20-%20anterior-tib.mov )but you can also do this with self treatment similar to ART (active release technique). I just got this book http://recoveryourstride.blogspot.com/2009/12/facilitated-active-stretch-technique.html this week and it shows you how to do this with angled pressure from your fingers. The foot circles and pointing using either of these techniques are really hitting the muscles in the right spots. In fact they the only muscles in my body that when targeted bring exibit extreme tightness, then a tingling, and then a bit of release. <br /><br />When you talk about the arch and big toe, this article http://tpmassageball.com/foot.php?id=106 shows how these muscles of the lower leg connect to the bottom of the foot. I haven't fully studied it all yet, but I this is all intriguing me currently. Maybe you have seen and figured this out already, but it certainly is interesting stuff.<br /><br />I have been wearing minimalistic shoes for years, but I am now realizing that without more specific work on my lower legs and feet that shoes alone will not fix the feet. <br /><br />When you wrote about how we sit and stand, I was reminded of this article on left-leg drivers syndrome: http://tpmassageball.com/generaltips.php <br /><br />Good luck with your rehab and thanks for the great reply. <br /><br />JimJim Hansenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10350710709762823429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-409675284551169512009-12-12T00:56:47.373-05:002009-12-12T00:56:47.373-05:00Hi Jim,
I'm 28 years old, I have the exact s...Hi Jim, <br /><br />I'm 28 years old, I have the exact same muscle imbalance problems as you do, and I'm pretty sure that I finally got the root of the problem! <br />I hope I'm right and that it helps you as well. <br /><br />I've been studying this newly-found problem of mine for about 9 months and all signs keep pointing to fallen arches. My right foot is nearly flat now and that is where this chain reaction starts. When the inside arch falls, the long bone from the top of the foot pushes into the base of the big toe bone at an angle that points the big toward outwards towards the other toes, creating a bunion or the appearance thereof. It also causes the knee to rotate inward and the leg to rotate in the hip socket. <br /><br />After that, the way we compensate for it when driving, standing, walking, and sitting, creates the muscle imbalance we're seeing. I have no idea if these imbalances vary from person to person just yet. <br /><br />When my feet are lined up, my right knee is a little lower then the left, my whole ribcage is visibily twisted clockwise (no wonder i have Asthma!), my hips are twisted to a lesser extent, and my right shoulder pulls forward and asymmetrically close to my neck, causing cold hands, and both carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve pain. I've also noticed that my face and neck have actually become less symmetrical, as the right side is somehow larger or more muscular than the left though my wife says it's completely unnoticeable. Back exercises helped the nerve pain in my wrists and cold hands, but I've just started exercising my feet and arch muscles and the bones at the arch of my feet have actually started to temporarily pop back into the correct position when I flex my foot arch muscles, so I have hope that the dysfunction is not yet beyond non-surgical repair.<br /><br />It seems as though we will always struggle with muscular imbalance until we restore the arches of our feet. I think there are is a lot of research indicating that bunions, flat feet, hernias, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, and maybe back/spinal/nerve disorders to possibly be hereditary but I think that it's specifically long-term fallen arches and postural problems, and we have the ability to control this hereditary fate. I also think that "Ghetto Booty" is a product of flat feet, too. It's just a hunch, but all the dots seems to connect, don't they? <br /><br />With the advice I found here on improving dorsiflexion, I hope to be able to rehab my foot in a couple of months and I hope that my little theory may be helpful to you all in reaching the muscle balance you are looking for.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08303603946303712592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-6701599623430269042009-12-10T18:50:49.938-05:002009-12-10T18:50:49.938-05:00Hi Cospielman,
That is interesting that you run in...Hi Cospielman,<br />That is interesting that you run in a similar way and have kept at it too! I haven't' figured out if I can change things, but if I can keep it together as I get older and be able to continue running I'll be happy. I do think that what the foot does follows through to the hip. Maybe something in the hip messes up the foot. Somehow it is all connected and I'd love to find the right practitioner that can figure it all out and set me on the proper path, until then I have to read and figure out all I can. I'll have to see about running fast to straighten it out! It is just not as easy anymore!<br />JimJim Hansenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10350710709762823429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-87164436690371474282009-12-10T12:25:23.557-05:002009-12-10T12:25:23.557-05:00Hi Jim, I just discovered your blog after you pos...Hi Jim, I just discovered your blog after you posted the link on the RW forums. I was just scrolling down, thinking oh, this is interesting - when I saw your post about your foot splaying out. Mine does the same thing! And I've also been running over 35 years, and I know it's done that the whole time - although my high school coach once told me as I sprint it straightens out. I've also had all sorts of hip overuse injuries throughout the years, and have been getting ART for the last year for a piriformis issue - which I'm now wondering if it's related to my ankle. Thanks for all this info - I def. need to read more and try some of the exercises.runsinthefamilyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06022908129716019352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-88118475732378266812009-12-01T12:43:35.443-05:002009-12-01T12:43:35.443-05:00Hi Anita,
I am doing tons of ATMs and really enjoy...Hi Anita,<br />I am doing tons of ATMs and really enjoy doing them. I found some free ones online, but have bought a few series that I find very useful and "informative". <br /><br />Yes, that is what I was doing: foot circles, heels adn toes in and out, and inverting and everting the foot. Great stuff! I hope it even takes me further out of stiffness.<br /><br />Thanks for the response and encouragement. Why give up? There is always something new to learn and strangly enough, it all goes back to the basics that we "knew" when we were kids!<br />JimJim Hansenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10350710709762823429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5577216999808543384.post-89173125604493692502009-12-01T10:20:40.056-05:002009-12-01T10:20:40.056-05:00I teach Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement(R) ...I teach Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement(R) classes and last night I taught the very lesson you described - I call it "Foot Circles." During the lesson I was struck by the huge variation in people's ability to move their ankles. <br /><br />Kudos to you for exploring, and believing in your ability to improve your movement. I hope you will continue with the Feldenkrais work. The new, improved movement pattern can become your way of moving.Anitahttp://www.movingaware.comnoreply@blogger.com