Dooley Noted: 2/7/2015
Yesterday, I had the honor of treating a very special gentleman.
He tore a calf muscle while swimming laps.
He was flabbergasted that he could so easily tear a muscle through a simple feat.
But that swim was the last straw.
As I attempted to move his hindfoot joints, they felt fused.
I asked him if anyone had ever attempted to feel his ankle joints.
Patient: “Never.”
He was quickly offered crutches, left to ambulate on the same dysfunction that got him into trouble.
Here’s my problem.
People are diagnosed with tears, usually via diagnostic ultrasound or MRI. Then, they are typically told to let it heal. Then, they return to activity.
They are permitted to return to their functional dysfunctions, as their brilliant system attempts to ambulate them.
Believe me, you will get it done. You will move.
It may be dysfunctional, chewing up parts above and below the sites of faulty movement.
As I asked the patient to shift his hip, he couldn’t do it. He felt it in his knee.
His knee was moving for a hip and foot that couldn’t.
Some calf muscles, like the gastrocnemius, cross the knee. When it’s asked to move at the knee for locked joints at the ankle and hip, it will eventually give out.
He was encouraged by others to stretch his tight calf. I noted this may be faulty advice, since the calf stretched in order to tear.
I noted the thousands upon thousands of steps he took each day with a locked hip and hindfoot.
Live in dysfunction, and it will absolutely result in structural changes.
Don’t push the anatomy until it fails.
Get assessed. Get restored to functional movement.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley