FootweRx / FOOT balance orthotic LAB

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In the realm of sports recovery, we go beyond traditional rehabilitation and focus on restoring optimal movement patterns to accelerate recovery.⁠
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So often the focus is to strengthen the body parts that the athlete has come to rely on rather than reintroduce the basic movements that their body struggles to access. It's in this absence of movement that drives other body parts to over work and possibly contribute to injury and discomfort. ⁠
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Why would we focus on strengthening these already overused parts when we can focus on restoring balance and equilibrium in the joints, muscles and overall physical set up by giving the athlete access to more of their available resources? For instance most favour weight in one leg, or move one hip more freely than another or find spinal rotation deficient in one direction. These movements need to be given back to the athlete so they can literally fire on all cylinders! Previous injuries play a huge factor in the body shapes athletes choose to operate in today. ⁠
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Movement isn't just a remedy though; it's the roadmap to peak performance 🙌🏼

Colton Poldrugovac

Breaking the Mould: Embracing Spinal Motion to build upon old ideas of spinal stability. ⁠
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Forget neutrality! To truly explore it's possibilities, the spine must venture beyond its neutral home. The muscles attached to the spine, which follow the big rules of movement, excel at decelerating spinal motion away from the revered neutral position. We are so used to thinking about stabilising our spine that we haven't paid attention to it's resting position and so all we are doing is stabilising our spine in this usually less than optimal position.⁠
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To truly activate these muscles of spinal motion is to lengthen them, which means we must deviate from stability into the realm of mobility and begin to explore our end ranges in motion. As the spine journeys from it's base in the pelvis through the ribcage and up to the skull, there are different structures to consider and organise in this endeavour. Pelvis motion brings hips to life which in turn invites the motion of the legs and critically feet, ribcage motion insists on scapulae and shoulder cooperation, leading down to the wrists and hands via the elbow, and lastly the neck plays a key role in balancing the skull on top of it all.... ⁠
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It's a dance of controlled movement, exploring boundaries and sophisticated integration all in order to unlock the potential of your spine. ⁠
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Are you ready to redefine your approach to spinal movement? ⁠
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Visit our website https://findingcentre.co.uk/ to learn more about our online courses. Take back control of your body today 🙌🏼⁠
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Increase weight bearing surface of the foot…

[Free Challenge] The 4 Day Better Back Movement Challenge FREE Five Day Challenge for Anyone Suffering from Back Pain… Give Me Just ONE Hour a Day And Over 5-Days I’ll Give You: The Five Phase System to Relieve Back Pain, Boost Mobility, and Rebalance The Body Using Simple “Reconstructive Movements” Challenge Starts In: Days Hours Minutes Seconds L...

Once a year, Schladming hosts probably the most spectacular ski race of the World Cup winter season: with as many as 45,000 ski fans and a ski party that outdoes everyone else worldwide. It's simply impossible to imagine the World Cup calendar without THE Nightrace.

Planai Stadium is transformed into a broiling witch's cauldron from the moment the very first athlete hurls himself out of the start house onto the floodlit piste. This is where skiers, the service team and ski fans all do their part to turn night into day - an event not to be missed!

HEAD SKI The Nightrace Schladming

Photo: GEPA-pictures.com

The views of Yotei from my place and pretty much anywhere in Niseko / Grand Hirafu were mind blowing!!

Yotei views from the King hooded quad 🗻

On this day in 1980, Honoured Member Ken Read won the World Cup downhill race in Kitzbuhel, Austria. His win made him the first non-European to win the downhill World Cup on that mountain.

Ken Read Canadian Ski Hall of Fame & Museum / Temple de la renommée du ski canadien Canada's Sports Hall of Fame

A very happy Footbed camper 🤩

Banff Ave 👌

Quand le coach Martin Durocher change de job, on change les chaussures 😉

Un énorme merci à toi Martin pour ton implication au Club de ski Sutton pour les 8 dernières années, ce fût tout un mandat et les cuvées le démontrent bien. Ski Québec alpin est bien chanceux de t’avoir pour développer et reconnecter entre le National / Provincial / Régional.

Nous avons tous bien grandi / évolué en tant qu’athlètes, coachs, parents et techniciens service course sous ta direction, alors bonne continuation. En jasant avec toi, la flamme sacrée est omniprésente.

On a bien hâte de collaborer avec toi dans tes nouvelles fonctions.

Chaussures fournies par Rossignol et Lange Canada et semelles Sidas, your foot company gracieusetés du GS Ski Shop fabriquées par Gord Pranschke. Les orteil en l’air 😏

Windlass and Reverse Windlass Effect: Structural and Functional Hallux Limitus

Hallux limitus has been described as a condition in which the hallux is unable to dorsiflex 65 to 75 degrees at the 1st metatarsophalangeal joint (MPJ) during the propulsive phase of gait (Root, M.L., W.P. Orien and J.H. W**d: Normal and Abnormal Function of the Foot. Clinical Biomechanics Corporation, Los Angeles, CA, 1977, p. 60, 363). In the podiatric medical community, hallux limitus is generally divided into two distinct categories: structural hallux limitus and functional hallux limitus.

Structural hallux limitus is defined as a 1st MPJ that has less than the normal range of dorsiflexion motion in a non-weightbearing setting. Structural hallux limitus may be caused by structural abnormalities in either the soft tissue or osseous components of the 1st MPJ so that there is an actual restriction of normal hallux dorsiflexion when the foot is non-weightbearing. Functional hallux limitus (FnHL) is defined as a 1st MPJ that demonstrates a normal range of hallux dorsiflexion during non-weightbearing examination but which also exhibits a restriction of hallux dorsiflexion during the propulsive phase of gait. In other words, a foot with FnHL will exhibit a reduction in available dorsiflexion of the 1st MPJ when going from a non-weightbearing to a weightbearing setting. It is this “functional” restriction of hallux dorsiflexion during weightbearing activities that occurs with FnHL that has important mechanical implications in the normal and abnormal function of the foot and lower extremity during gait.

John W**d, DPM, was the first person that I heard use the term “functional hallux limitus” when he was teaching my second year biomechanics course at the California College of Podiatric Medicine in 1980. Dr. W**d described hallux limitus deformity and explained the important functional difference between structural and functional hallux limitus and how it could affect the mechanics of the foot. More recently, Howard Dananberg, DPM has published numerous papers on the potential mechanical influences that FnHL may have on the biomechanics of gait that may, in turn, result in a myriad of problems ranging from foot pain to lower back pain (Dananberg, HJ: Functional hallux limitus and its relationship to gait efficiency. JAPMA, 76:648-652, 1986; Dananberg, HJ: Gait style as an etiology to chronic postural pain. Part I. Functional hallux limitus. JAPMA, 83:433-441, 1993). Dr. Dananberg’s pioneering work in correlating the abnormal mechanics of the 1st MPJ to lower back pain has emphasized the importance of recognizing FnHL in the treatment of mechanically based pathologies which are located anatomically quite distant to the foot (Dananberg, HJ, Guiliano, M: Chronic low-back pain and its response to custom-made foot orthoses. 89:109-117, 1999).

In order to fully understand the etiology of FnHL, the clinician must first appreciate the complex mechanical interrelationships between the 1st MPJ and the remainder of the foot and lower extremity. In the foot with an intact plantar fascia, the hallux cannot dorsiflex fully unless other associated motions of the foot also occur simultaneously. The mechanics of this interaction of the 1st MPJ and the remainder of the foot and lower extremity were probably best described by Hicks nearly 50 years ago. Hicks found the following four observations to occur simultaneously in the foot and lower extremity during passive 1st MPJ dorsiflexion: 1) an increase in medial longitudinal arch height (Fig. 1), 2) inversion of the rearfoot, 3) external rotation of the leg, and 4) the appearance of a tight band in the region of the plantar fascia. (Hicks, J.H. The mechanics of the foot. II. The plantar aponeurosis and the arch. Journal of Anatomy. 88:24-31, 1954).

Hicks noted that these motions of the foot and lower extremity that occurred with 1st MPJ dorsiflexion were not necessarily muscular in origin since both paralyzed and cadaver feet showed the same motions. He stated that the four observations listed above also occurred when the individual was asked to stand tip-toe, actively dorsiflexing the 1st MPJ. Hicks found that the same “irresistible” arch-raising effect and plantarflexion of the first metatarsal occurred with 1st MPJ dorsiflexion in a non-weightbearing situation. He noted that the arch-raising effect that occurred with hallux dorsiflexion almost disappeared with transection of the plantar fascia in the cadaver foot (Hicks, 1954).

From his observations in both live subjects and cadaver feet, Hicks described the arch-raising effect that occurred with hallux dorsiflexion as being caused by the plantar fascia being wound, along with the sesamoids, along the plantar and distal aspect of the first metatarsal head during hallux dorsiflexion. He described the unique structural arrangement of the plantar fascia, sesamoids, first metatarsal head and hallux as being mechanically similar to a cable being wound about the drum of a windlass. [A windlass is a revolving lifting device that uses a rope or cable wound around a revolving drum to pull and lift things (Microsoft World Dictionary, 2001).]

Hicks also noted that since the body weight tended to flatten the arch of the foot, that the flattening of the arch tended to cause plantarflexion motion of the hallux and lesser toes, causing the hallux and lesser toes to press with more force on the ground during weightbearing. This effect of the hallux and toes pressing forcefully into the ground with the foot being loaded by body weight was noted also to disappear with transection of the plantar fascia. Hicks described this tendency of the toes to plantarflex at the MPJs with flattening of the arch of the foot as an “unwinding of the windlass” and felt that this effect was at least partially responsible for the “gripping action” of the toes on the ground during weightbearing activities (Hicks, 1954).

The mechanical nature of a non-contractile structure such as the plantar fascia is very important when attempting to understand the mechanics of FnHL since the passively produced tensile forces within the plantar fascia play a major role in the production of FnHL during gait. These important interrelationships of the plantar fascia and FnHL will be explored further in the future newsletters.
[From: Kirby KA: Functional hallux limitus and windlass effect of Hicks. June 2002 Precision Intricast Newsletter. Kirby KA: Foot and Lower Extremity Biomechanics II: Precision Intricast Newsletters, 1997-2002. Precision Intricast, Inc., Payson, AZ, 2002.]

Dr. Kirby's five books may be purchased from Precision Intricast Orthosis Lab at www.precisionintricast.com/shop.

Does Functional Hallux Limitus Cause a Low-Arched Foot?

Functional hallux limitus (FnHL) occurs when a foot has normal hallux dorsiflexion in the non-weightbearing examination but has limited hallux dorsiflexion during standing and weightbearing activities. Functional hallux limitus was first described in 1972 by the late Patrick Laird, DPM, as being due to excessive rearfoot pronation which increased first ray dorsiflexion (Laird PO: Functional hallux limitus. The Illinois Podiatrist. 9:4, 1972).

Then, 14 years later, in 1986, Dananberg described how FnHL could lead to flattening of the medial longitudinal arch (MLA), "Lowering of medial longitudinal arch is related to the inability of the hallux to extend." Dananberg believed that FnHL causes MLA flattening whereas Laird believed that MLA flattening precedes and causes FnHL. There is no research evidence to date to support the idea that FnHL caused MLA flattening. However, mechanical modelling of the foot does strongly support that idea that flattening of the MLA can cause FnHL.

In addition, arthrodesis procedures of the 1st metatarsophalangeal joint (MPJ), which are now a very common surgical procedure in podiatric patients, do not seem to cause arch flattening over time. If lack of hallux dorsiflexion, in fact, somehow mechanically causes medial longitudinal arch flattening over time, then why doesn't completely eliminating hallux dorsiflexion during gait with a 1st MPJ arthrodesis procedure cause arch flattening? My answer? FnHL occurs due to arch flattening due to the increase in plantar fascial tension seen in arch flattening. The lack of hallux dorsiflexion is not the cause of arch flattening, but is the biomechanical result of arch flattening.

In the illustration below, a model of the foot with the plantar fascia attaching to the plantar heel and hallux is presented. In the upper illustration, the MLA of the foot is higher than in the lower illustration. Static analysis of this mechanical system shows that the plantar fascia will have reduced tension within it in feet with a higher MLA and the plantar fascia will have increased tension force in lower MLA height feet. A similar mechanical model was first described by John Hicks in his classic paper on foot biomechanics from 1961(Hicks JH: The Three Weight Bearing Mechanisms of the Foot. In F.G. Evans (ed): Biomechanical Studies of the Musculoskeletal System. C.C. Thomas Co., Springfield, Ill., pp. 161-191, 1961).

Since tension within the plantar fascia produces a hallux plantarflexion moment, then increased plantar fascia tension will produce increased hallux plantarflexion moment, which will lead to increased tendency to cause FnHL. Lower MLA height will increase plantar fascia tension, increase hallux plantarflexion moment and will decrease the likelihood that ground reaction force plantar to the hallux during propulsion will result in hallux dorsiflexion.

As a result, feet with lower MLA height have a greatly increased risk of developing FnHL. It is highly unlikely that FnHL is the cause of feet developing a reduced MLA height.

References:
Kirby KA: Foot and Lower Extremity Biomechanics II: Precision Intricast Newsletters, 1997-2002. Precision Intricast, Inc., Payson, AZ, 2002, pp. 139-152.

Use of Morton's Extensions and Reverse Morton's Extensions on Foot Orthoses for Hallux Limitus/Rigidus and Other Pathologies

In 1935, Dudley J. Morton described how the first metatarsal segment of some feet could be "hypermobile". As a result of his discovery, Morton designed an in-shoe orthosis with a first metatarsal head extension to treat this condition (Morton DJ: The Human Foot: Its Evolution, Physiology and Functional Disorders. Columbia University Press. Morningside Heights, New York, 1935). Today, this first metatarsal head extension on a foot orthosis is known as a "Morton's Extension".

The Morton's Extension (ME) is helpful in treating patients with plantar 2nd metatarsal head symptoms if the first ray has decreased dorsiflexion stiffness (i.e. is "hypermobile"). The ME will increase the ground reaction force (GRF) plantar to the first metatarsal head which will decrease the GRF plantar to the 2nd metatarsal head. The ME is also helpful in limiting hallux dorsiflexion during gait which may help relieve the pain in some patients with hallux limitus/hallux rigidus deformity.

On non-weightbearing clinical examination, if hallux dorsiflexion produces pain in the 1st metatarso-phalangeal joint (MPJ), then I will use a ME to help limit hallux dorsiflexion during gait which typically helps relieve pain at the 1st MPJ in these patients during gait. One must be careful, however, when using a ME on a foot orthosis, since the addition of an ME to a foot orthosis may produce excessive subtalar (STJ) supination during gait.

The opposite of the ME is the Reverse Morton's Extension (RME) which consists of a forefoot extension plantar to the 2nd through 5th metatarsal heads. The RME is a very useful addition to orthoses for the treatment of sesamoiditis, peroneal tendinopathy, lateral ankle instability and also functional hallux limitus.

For functional hallux limitus, if hallux dorsiflexion is non-painful on non-weightbearing examination, then I will use the RME added to an orthosis to help encourage greater hallux dorsiflexion and better function during gait. Of course, care must be taken if too thick of an RME is used in the orthosis since it can, on occasion, cause sub-2nd/3rd metatarsal head pain or increased STJ pronation during gait.

Both the ME and RME modifications are very useful foot orthosis modifications which, with proper clinical use, can mean the difference between success or failure with custom foot orthoses. Every podiatrist and foot-health clinician should be aware of the clinical usefulness of both the ME and RME orthosis modifications in order to optimize their patient's gait and minimize their pain and disability.

Sun Valley Looks to Host 2025 World Cup Finals Photo: U.S. Ski & Snowboard - Steven Kornreich The buzz in the skiing world is real – Sun Valley Resort is set to host the 2025 Alpine World Cup Finals, and it's creating a wave of excitement. When Ski Racing Media caught wind of the rumors surrounding Sun

💪Unlock Your Hip Flexors, Increase Mobility We ship to the US and Canada!

[Free Challenge] The 4 Day Better Hip Movement Challenge FREE 4 Day Challenge for Anyone Suffering from Hip Pain… Give Me Just ONE Hour a Day And Over 4-Days I’ll Give You: The Five Phase System to Relieve Hip Pain, Boost Mobility, and Rebalance The Body Using Simple “Reconstructive Movements” Challenge Starts In: Days Hours Minutes Seconds Novemb...

Seen on “birds of prey”

[DOWNLOAD] How To Use Bones As Levers Are you curious about ways to address back stiffness and pain in the thoracic and lumbar areas? One effective way is to use bones as levers. It will reduce spasms, enhance mobility and optimize nervous system functioning. Find out how in this free guide.

More fun with feet…

I made a new pair of custom ski footbeds for a customer this past weekend.
I had to make new ones as the old ones were holding her foot in an elongated and destabilized position. They were made by a reputable fitter, well known in the high performance and race community.
Unfortunately they were done extremely poorly in so many ways that there was no salvaging them in any way… 🤦‍♂️

Red / black are the originals.

[FREE GUIDE] Pain Exposure Therapy Should massage always be pain-free? According to Erik Dalton, we can use pain exposure therapy to change the brain's response to pain. What exactly is pain exposure therapy and how does it work? Find out in this free guide.

There’s always some new trend around the corner that keeps my colleagues and I in business 🤣

It may be a little preachy and overly alarmist but for the most part pretty good advice.

I love the final note… 🤷

“A final word of advice for those still tempted by the podiatric version of going commando: “If you embrace this trend, you better have your podiatrist on speed dial,” Parthasarathy says. “Because I guarantee you will need it.”

Put Your Shoes Back On. Here's the Problem With Going Barefoot — TIME Podiatrists say going barefoot can lead to many painful (and gross) health complications.

Such an amazing athlete and person!

Thankful. 🙏
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📷: Dawsy // U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team

Yup, been there, done that 🤙

Great video on such an important topic for pressure control as well as stance / balance.
Flex ankle first then drive the knee.

Ankle flexion for skiing, why and how Finding balance in skiing is everything in skiing. Elite ski racers share why and how the ankle matters.