I’ve been  working on an upcoming book, Fixing You: Foot & Ankle Pain, and have been experimenting with a new approach to fixing foot problems. The interesting thing is, since I’ve been trying this new approach to walking, my pelvis has not become rotated,  resulting in no back pain. Before, I’ve always been able to prevent or fix my back pain with the techniques from my book, Fixing You: Back Pain. But one thing I hadn’t been able to do is identify the habit that is continually causing my pelvis to become rotated, contributing to recurrence of my back pain. Now I think I’m on to it! This is an unexpected benefit I hadn’t counted on. Of course, we all know that everything in the body is connected but we don’t know yet, the best way to use these connections to reduce pain. I think, in the course of applying a new understanding of our foot and lower leg anatomy, that I’ve figured out a way to reduce chronic pelvic rotation which is often at the root of pelvic pain, sciatica, SI joint, and back pain.

This was reinforced when I asked one of my clients with a perpetually rotated pelvis and a history of back and sciatic pain to try this new walking technique. He also has hip pain due to arthritis that has gradually become worse over the years of his pounding sports. Additionally he has knee pain on the same side. We’ve been able to fix all these aches and pains but I have not been able to get him to fix his walking pattern which is contributing to the recurrence of these problems. Immediately upon fixing his gait (walking) pattern his leg and pelvis corrected themselves without his even thinking about it! He also reported his hip pain had vanished! We both looked at each other stunned.

I’m still experimenting with this and working out the nuances for different foot types but I’m excited at what I’m finding. Finally, I think I might be getting to the bottom of a more complete approach to fixing ailments from head to toes, beginning with the toes!

I had an interesting client the other day who has had inner ankle pain for 2+ years. This alone is unusual as I have only seen outer ankle pain before.  She has been treated by chiropractors, accupuncturists, cold laser treatment, massage therapists etc with no change. Finally she went to see an orthopedic doctor who, in spite of finding no evidence for a fracture, placed screws in her ankle. Still the pain persisted.

This was an unusual case to be sure only because nothing made any difference to her ankle–better or worse. I began with her hip evaluation and found several problems there as well with the lower leg. Correcting these, however, made no immediate difference in her ankle pain.

Finally I began testing the influence of her arch on her pain. Still no change. I then mobilized her ankle bone forward and backward. This almost always elicits a positive response for pain relief. No change. Then I tried something I’d never done before and mobilized her inner ankle bone upward or cephalad. Her pain disappeared.

But how could she keep the ankle bone up like this? I decided to try taping it, essentially cradling the ankle bone while pulling it up and completing the tape by partially spiraling it around her shin. This relieved most of the pain, which wasn’t good enough. I wanted her to be completely pain free when she left my office. So I took a third strip of tape and, holding the bone in the corrected position, taped it in a cephalad direction. She was completely pain free after the third piece.

This is very unusual because taping the inner ankle is taping the tibia–a weightbearing bone. To think the the tape would hold a position against the tremendous force of the body weight is something interesting. I tape feet successfully all the time but that is correcting a pronation force directed rotationally so the tape has a better chance to hold the correction. This is much different.

She is doing much better now. I believe the hip issues I discovered set her up for this alignment issue and she will need to correct those to remove the stress to the ankle bone. But for the time being, she is snowboarding and hiking without pain. The first time in more than two years.

To me this is an amazing example of just how little a change needs to occur in order to correct pain. I don’t believe I actually even moved the tibial mortise but instead just unweighted it a little.