I'm particularly fond of self-inflicted torture, especially during my summer break when all I actually have the brain capacity for is binge watching witcher on Netflix and stuffing my face with smores (its a Canadian thing, get on it asap)
Yet, here we are with another segment of "oh wow, we're really starting to worry about her mental health" yeah.... me too
Today, however, is a particularly unique type of torture. You'll be entertained, I promise.
I wanted to *attempt* to summarize foot functioning paradigms in a digestible yet informative blog post. We'll see what happens.
As you're all probably aware, because you're all intelligent and awesome (am I laying it on too thick? is it working?) in order to understand biomechanics and orthoses we need to understand the basic foot functioning paradigms.
There are four theories in total, as far as myself and the rest of the podiatric world is aware, but I know there are many smarticles in the field so maybe that number could change! Now today, I wont be pointing out the inaccuracies with each theory, I'm simply attempting to explain them. One torture at a time folks!
Also please bear in mind that this is only a first year pod students interpretation of FFP's and there is a good chance that some of my interpretations are incorrect so with anything you read on the internet, don't take it at face value and do your research! Unless it says im completely and totally adorable (take that at face value ALWAYS)
The first theory is: Root Theory
It is used to explain the foots relationship when it makes contact with the ground. Now if your mind immediately went to "shock absorption" and you're not a car person then well done! because that's a part of it! And if you're not a car person then whats wrong with you! get on it! cars are cool! Right back to Root theory (and subsequent crying) The root theory takes a closer look at the subtalar joint and midtarsal joint and how the mechanical relationship between the two would impact mechanical foot dysfunction. (sorry if I've used too many big words, I'm not certain I had them in my brain, we are equally shocked!)
Sagittal Plane Facilitation Theory: Okay so this theory was explained to me in a very clear digestible manner but I'm afraid I'll end up complicating it so bear with me. Right, so the ankle joint is very clearly involved in the sagittal plane since when we enter the 'gait cycle' (fancy way of saying when we start walking, did I seem cool? No? okay moving on) it helps shift our weight as we walk. But the ankle is also involved in the frontal and transverse plane. Its triplanar. So lets move to our next point, if the ankle is triplanar (meaning it isn't a hinge joint, if you're curious about what a hinge joint is then your knee and elbow are hinge joints and your ankle, shoulder and hip joints are non-hinge joints, meaning they move in more than two ways, have a fun little play around, don't hurt yourself though) Sagittal Plane Facillitation theory focuses on the range of motion displayed in the STJ in its relation to the midfoot. IT also attempts to describe the relationship between the talonavicular and calcaneocuboid ligaments since their range of motion exists in three planes as well. Best way to summarize this theory is that it aims to describe the effects of how the foot hits the ground and moving forward keeping in mind all aspects of the foot that shock is distributed in i.e rearfoot, ankle, and midfoot! okay... my brain is numb now but we're almost done!
Tissue Stress Theory: This is actually an interesting theory, its basic premise is that your body can endure a certain amount of stress, enough for your cells to regenerate "replenish" (and any other "r' word you want to toss in here) so you can bounce back and start fresh each day. However! (plot twist) if you push yourself past, what is called an elastic phase, and you stress your body more than what it is normally used to or allowed to in order to regenerate appropriately, that's when you enter the plastic phase which basically states that you've stressed your muscles past the point of comfort and you're entering a dangerous territory which can cause injury or where your cells won't be able to regenerate quickly enough for you to rebound the next day!
In relation to your foot, this theory helps narrow down the ground reaction forces to a center point on your foot. Even though it is hard to narrow it down to an exact location, it is said that when the center of pressure is located laterally to the STJ axis then the foot supinates and if its located medially to the STJ axis then the foot pronates.
All of this is a fancy way of saying that you should invest in some orthotics if your Podiatrist tells you to!
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