Sunday, April 4, 2010

Exciting new Foot and Ankle treatment class

As a result of the positive feedback on the foot section from my Balance class, I have created a 1 day class dedicated to the evaluation and treatment of foot and ankle injuries. The class will focus on how to identify dysfunctional structures associated with certain diagnosis and deformities of the foot and ankle and how to choose the appropriate treatment techniques based upon the structure of your patient's foot.

The functional gains that I have made using these techniques both personally and professionally cause me to consider these techniques the most powerful treatment tools that I know how to perform. Provided that I address the dysfunctional structures and choose the appropriate treatment technique, I have restored 85-100% of range of motion and eradication of symptoms in a couple of minutes. These techniques work on all patients from infants to people in their 90's.

The foot and ankle respond particularly well to these techniques. There is excellent carry over provided that the patient is ambulatory and inexpensive, prefabricated orthosis and taping can be used to reinforce gains. . These techniques can be taught to most patients to so that they can treat themselves.

Several of my patients have avoided surgery and have resolved or halted the progression of deformities including; flat feet, hammar toes, hallux valgus, and talar bunions.

Because the foot is the ultimate base of support for every joint above it, treatment of the foot and ankle profoundly effect the functioning of knee, hip, lower back and everything above.

As stated in my balance class, to be at a decreased risk of falls one must have 8 degrees of ankle dorsiflexion with the knee straight and 10 degrees of dorsiflexion with the knee bent. In order to have a normal push off 90 degress of hallux extension is required.

In the thousands of patients that I have treated, even those without pain, I have never encountered a person with 2 optimally functioning feet. There is not a person who would not benefit from this type of treatment.