Dooley Noted: 7/13/2014
Yesterday, I conducted a trial run seminar on rotation.
I asked where the group would like to start. I said, “Pick eyes or foot. Each one has great impact.”
They chose the foot.
They were very surprised when I didn’t spend excessive time discussing dorsiflexion of the ankle, a concept assigned and discussed ad nauseum.
We focused on the subtalar joint, a synovial planar joint inferior to the ankle.
As a chiropractic student, I remember saying, “There’s a joint down there?”
I continue to hear the same thing from students every year.
The subtalar joint is the joint the talus bone makes with the calcaneus (heel bone). Due to it’s biplanar configuration, it allows for inversion/eversion in the frontal plane and internal/external rotation in the transverse plane.
These actions allow for supination and pronation of the foot, two crucial movements for bipedal ambulation (read: walking).
I was very lucky as a chiropractor to learn this joint’s movements. I was even luckier to learn how to mobilize them by the wonderful people at Motion Palpation Institute.
But most trainers and massage therapists don’t get the privilege of emphasis on this joint.
I showed how to assess pronation and supination as part of rotation. It was fantastic to watch the students in half kneeling, assessing as they mobilized their own feet.
One such student had foot instability on deadlifting, but he had absolutely fantastic dorsiflexion. But his issue was in the subtalar joint.
One quick mobilization and he was stronger and freer in the foot. We were then able to attack a rotational abdominal timing issue on a rolling pattern. Both his glitches aside, he could then deadlift with much less foot instability.
Pronation and supination of the foot drive the entire kinetic chain proximal to it. It works in the opposite direction, also – with eye movement affecting the foot!
To learn more about the wonders of the subtalar joint, the video below will be helpful.
If you’d like to learn more in person, check out any seminar run by Motion Palpation Institute, Anatomy in Motion, or Gary Gray.
If you need more anatomy and rotational knowledge, my seminar series is coming soon.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley