Welcome to the Podiatry Arena forums

You are currently viewing our podiatry forum as a guest which gives you limited access to view all podiatry discussions and access our other features. By joining our free global community of Podiatrists and other interested foot health care professionals you will have access to post podiatry topics (answer and ask questions), communicate privately with other members, upload content, view attachments, receive a weekly email update of new discussions, access other special features. Registered users do not get displayed the advertisements in posted messages. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our global Podiatry community today!

  1. Have you considered the Clinical Biomechanics Boot Camp Online, for taking it to the next level? See here for more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
Have you considered the Clinical Biomechanics Boot Camp Online, for taking it to the next level? See here for more.
Dismiss Notice
Have you liked us on Facebook to get our updates? Please do. Click here for our Facebook page.
Dismiss Notice
Do you get the weekly newsletter that Podiatry Arena sends out to update everybody? If not, click here to organise this.

Articles that first got you thinking biomechanically.

Discussion in 'Biomechanics, Sports and Foot orthoses' started by Steve The Footman, Nov 26, 2008.

  1. Steve The Footman

    Steve The Footman Active Member


    Members do not see these Ads. Sign Up.
    I thought it might be good to make a list of research papers that inspired you to start thinking biomechanically and really want to know more about how the foot works.

    Here's one of my favorites:

    Nester, C., Findlow, A., Bowker, P.: Scientific approach to the axis of rotation of the midtarsal joint. JAPMA, 91(2):68-73, 2001
     
  2. Griff

    Griff Moderator

    Kirby, K. A., (2000). Biomechanics of the Normal and Abnormal Foot. JAPMA, 90(1): 30-34
     
  3. David Wedemeyer

    David Wedemeyer Well-Known Member

    Root MC, Orion WP, Weed JH. Normal and Abnormal Function of the Foot. Los Angeles: Clinical Biomechanics, 1977.

    I was given this tome by a DPM friend who told me that I should read and learn from these authors and then read and embrace the newer research and theories.

    I had no idea what he was talking about at the time or that there was any 'new' research!:dizzy:
     
  4. It was the Don green paper on planal dominance.

    first one which turned axis from a vague and irritatingly complex abstract to something which made a difference to how i prescribed.

    That, and hearing Simon talking about the axis locator at the same Biomechanics Summer school ;).

    Regards
    Robert
     
  5. Cool, stood on some giants to get there. For me it was actually, Daryl Phillips and Roy Lidtke paper on STJ location, which led me back to "methods of determination..." by our hero- "pig boy". The rest as they say...
     
  6. davidh

    davidh Podiatry Arena Veteran

    Nice one Steve (The Footman).

    For me it was Planal Dominance by Green and Carroll - (JAPA 1984).

    Thank you Ray Anthony (guest lecturer) and South Tyneside Healthcare Trust (host venue).

    It led to me reading many more Biomech Papers which made little sense (to me) out of which - Flat Earth Theory (as Robert likes to call it:eek:) was born.
     
  7. Craig Payne

    Craig Payne Moderator

    Articles:
    8
    For me it would have to be the writings from the mid- to late- 70's in the running mags before i even went to podiatry school - the likes of George Sheehan and Steve Subotnick; then, of course RWO came out during my 2nd yr ...
     
  8. Admin2

    Admin2 Administrator Staff Member

  9. efuller

    efuller MVP

    A kinematical analysis of the tarsal joints. An X-ray photogrammetric study.

    van Langelaan EJ.

    Acta Orthop Scand Suppl. 1983;204:1-269.

    It had an amazing review of the literature up until that point.

    It also explained how to find an axis of motion. You would think that this is something that would be taught in podiatry school, but it wasn't when I was a student. If you are going to talk about joint motion, you should know what an axis of rotation is and how it is found.

    It also was critical of the axes of the midtarsal joint lining up explanation of why the midtarsal joint range of motion decreased with movement of the STJ from a pronated position to a more supinated position. This was important for me because it led me to question all of the assumptions that were made in the biomechanical theories that I had been taught up until that point.

    I have to thank Kevin for telling me about this paper. When I was a third year student, there was a contest, sponsored by Langer labs, to write a paper about biomechanics of the midtarsal joint. I was asking all the biomechanics instructors for good articles on the subject and Kevin, almost as an afterthought mentioned this paper. I was a co-winner in the contest with a paper that questioned the conventional wisdom. A majority of my paper came out of the van Langelaan paper.

    When I read the paper, I was already interested in thinking about biomechanics. However, it really changed my thinking.

    Eric Fuller
     
  10. I don't think I ever needed to have a research paper to stimulate my interest in biomechanics once I began podiatry school in 1979 since I inherently knew that biomechanics was very important because foot orthoses had made such a huge impact on my ability to train and compete injury-free for my distance running career. I went from being injured every 3 months in 1976 (at 19 years old) before I got my first pair of orthoses to not being injured for another 2 years after I got orthoses, running an average of 70-90 miles per week in my early 20's.

    However, once I got to podiatry school and had all the standard Root biomechanics education, the one paper that sticks out in my mind as being revolutionary for me was a paper by John Hicks (Hicks, J.H. The Three Weight Bearing Mechanisms of the Foot. Pages 161-191 in F.G. Evans (ed): Biomechanical Studies of the Musculoskeletal System. C.C. Thomas Co., Springfield, Ill. 1961).

    What so impressed me about this paper was that, for the first time during my podiatry student years, I was learning about how the positioning of the center of mass of the body relative to the plantar foot affected the neuromuscular response of the dorsiflexors, plantarflexors, invertors and evertors of the foot and ankle in order for an individual to maintain upright balance. To me, especially when compared to the Root system, this was "real biomechanics" since I intuitively felt that in order to understand foot function better we must first understand how the whole body affects the foot, not just how the lower extremity affects the foot. The series of papers by John Hicks are still some of my favorite papers. John Hicks thought logically, did relatively good research, and made some very impressive, new observations in his day. I recommend that all of you read them not just once.

    Hicks JH: The mechanics of the foot. I. The joints. J Anatomy. 87:25-31, 1953.
    Hicks JH: The mechanics of the foot. II. The plantar aponeurosis and the arch. J Anatomy. 88:24-31, 1954.
    Hicks JH: The foot as a support. Acta Anatomica, 25:34-45, 1955.
    Hicks JH: The Three Weight Bearing Mechanisms of the Foot. Pages 161-191 in F.G. Evans (ed): Biomechanical Studies of the Musculoskeletal System. C.C. Thomas Co., Springfield, Ill. 1961.
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2008
Loading...

Share This Page