Photograph by Natalie Harding
“Sensory neurons kick off the journey along neural pathways from stimulus to response. These pathways end when axons in nerves make synapses onto muscle fibers, which respond to secretion of neurotransmitter by contracting. The coordinated contraction of many fibers causes a muscle to shorten and produce a movement. More generally every one of your muscles is controlled by axons that come from motor neurons.” – Excerpt from CONNECTOME by Sebastian Seung
(Biomechanics)
Muscles rely on the circuits to provide constant neurological feedback that is adequate for the task at hand.
The muscles are the last stop for all of the neural pathways throughout the human chain.
Efficiency = (Muscles + Ligaments)
Optimal Stiffness
The truth is, you and I are not good at remembering facts. We want the answer(s), but we don’t listen for the details.
In other words, we can listen to the story without hearing the details.
A good story will stick. Even when it’s not based on facts.
(Perspective)
Tomorrow, thousands of future specialists will learn that an ankle sprain is a position of plantarflexion at the ankle joint (a hinge joint), and inversion of the calcaneus at the subtalar joint.
The college professor’s message is very clear:
The ankle joint only allows for motion in one plane, e.g., Plantarflexion of the lower leg at the ankle joint is occurring in the sagittal plane.
And the subtalar joint below the level of your ankle joint allows for motion in the remaining two planes, e.g., Inversion of the calcaneus drives the talus into abduction and lateral rotation at the subtalar joint.
*Both* joints are in a position(s) that allows for a tremendous amount of mobility.
In order to prevent an ankle sprain, the muscles have to be able to contract (and react!) at the right time, in the right plane and at the right joint.
The muscles and ligaments have to decelerate, capture the elastic energy, stabilize and accelerate everything against gravity to avoid an ankle sprain, e.g., Pronation.
We are not talking about building a structure from scratch.
The structure is already provided for us. It is made up of 26 bones, 33 joints and a multitude of muscles/ligaments each with their own role(s).
*Your* foot is perfectly capable of supporting itself.
Based on its structure and function, it is capable of being a mobile adapter to planet Earth, e.g., Walking on the beach.
Ligaments and muscles have a synergistic relationship. And together, they are much stronger than the sum of their individual parts.
(Curiosity)
If you cannot visualize the motions, joints and planes etc…
Try to imagine that you are landing with your foot out in front of you and something (anything!) drives you to the outside of your foot upon landing.
Here is an analogy or the example that is most often used: Imagine you step on another player’s foot in a basketball game. Your foot doesn’t have any choice, it has to go out.
That sounds like a recipe for an injury, right?
*Here* is where listening for the details and remembering the facts matters.
Now, imagine you are close to the end of a 50K trail run, you are tired *and* feel fatigue setting in.
Your neuromuscular (fascial) system is gradually tiring and you can feel that your foot is not as quick to respond to the ground, gravity and momentum on every single leg landing.
(Proprioception)
A couple of months ago, you were struggling with an injury and you were looking for answers. The specialist in the professional building recommended more support.
Then you were fitted for a conventional running shoe with a built-up heel.
The built-up heel has a 13mm drop from the rearfoot to the forefoot. Your heel is higher than your forefoot which is not normal (or natural!).
The built-in ramp angle drove your foot, and everything above the level of the ankle joint in the sagittal plane.
There is a 12mm-15mm drop from the rearfoot to the forefoot with a conventional running shoe. This image shows that everything is driven in the sagittal plane.
In order to keep your center of mass over your ankle, you unconsciously found “balance”.
In other words, you compensated. (emphasis added)
wrote this about being practical, “Be aware that ‘being practical’ can sometimes be code language used by critics to marginalize your choices of freedom. Never forget that changing the world is not always a practical endeavor.”
