|
A mutual medical colleague and I recently found time
to, as always, enjoy a good visit. His
name is Dr. Kevin Brattain, a podiatrist and surgeon in Peoria.
Both of us have a farm boy background and enjoy the challenges of our
practices. Many years ago we
were preferred doctors in handling the Bradley University volleyball team.
Over a 4-year period of time we not only decreased injuries, but they
were having more successful years.
I
remember that time when we discussed a “pity party” syndrome of our
practices. He said, “Well,
you have accidents and misuse of the spine but in my field the feet are the
most abused.” I questioned
him why that was. He answered
back to me, “Well, when people are happy they are up playing and dancing
all night. When people are mad they gotta stomp and they gotta kick.”
We are exploring experimentation in gait walk and the use of Digital
Motion X-ray in my office to determine pre and post surgery recovery.
The leg and foot have the ability to absorb as much as
15,000 pounds of force per square inch.
The human spine disc can absorb and load itself as much as 2 tons
before rupturing. We hear so
much about the disc in the human spine and it has been very misunderstood.
Approximately 3 years ago true research discovered why a disc
ruptures and why others don’t rupture.
What happens is a disc will have a small crack that allows blood to
creep its way to the disc nucleus and by its own blood acid starts to
dissolve the disc center and it weeps out through its own weaknesses.
Dr.
Brattain and I discussed the anatomy of a foot striking the ground and how
it rolls through to distribute the body’s weight contacting the ground. The foot, of course, is attached to the tibia and fibula
bones of the lower leg which have anterior muscles (front) and post
musculatures (rear). Then it
enters the upper leg or thigh that has four muscles; one on each of the four
corners and then that goes for insertion at the hip. Those muscles are
supplied by the lumbar nerves; the last 5 paired spinal nerves of the back.
This entire leg is fed by the great sciatic nerve and associated
lumbar nerves. This is all
controlled and balanced by, yep, the atlas (the first vertebrae) of the
cervical spine housing the brainstem.
This leads us to some cases where only the low back is
worked on and this does not improve the low back. It can be interrupted by a brainstem nerve transmission of
balance, or often times there are overlooked misalignments of the tarsal and
metatarsal bones of the foot. Hence,
adjusting the foot we have found improvement.
If this fails and we realize it’s a possible foot pathology
problem, we most often refer to Dr. Kevin Brattain’s office for further
interpretation and possible surgical intervention so we can get these folks
back out kickin and dancin.
Chiropractically
Yours,
Robert
R. Zinser, D.C., C.C.S.P., P.C.
www.zinserchiropractic.com
|
