July 2012, New Manual Articular Approach, Lower Limb
Just finished a course for the joints of the lower limbs and I’m so excited! Those chronic, painful, immobile hip, knee and ankle joints have finally met their match!
In school we learned to mobilize the joints to try to get more mobility and movement in the joint…the stickier the joint the harder you mobilize to overcome the resistance. Often it worked over a long period of time but the treatment didn’t specifically address the underlying pathology of the dysfunction and of course the symptoms recurred.
The lovely bit about the course I just finished and the method of teaching I’ve been studying is that LESS is MORE. There is no need to over stretch the ligaments or the joint capsule in order to increase joint mobility but there is a need to specifically adress deep intrinsic structures and tissue in order to free it up and provide more slide and glide between the layers.
Looking specifically at the knee joint there are a myriad of things that can and should be addressed to provide a complete picture of joint restoration. The knee gives a tremendous amount of information to the brain in terms of where we are in space and of its relationship to ankle movement inferiorly and hip movement superiorly.
Lets look at one example of long term, low grade chronic swelling of the knee. The original insult doesn’t really matter, it could have been a surgery, a football accident, a skiing accident or simply giving it a twist as you stepped out of the car; the end result is that you have a constant reminder to your brain that something is wrong with your lower limb. The brain tries to be helpful by putting your knee into a protective position and in doing so creates a little vascular spasm of the arteries surrounding the knee…little chronic spasm=little chronic edema=little chronic spasm. You can see that a vicious circle is created and your knee never fully heals or regains its proper proprioception and mechanoreception. One of the techniques I learned this weekend deals specifically with this artery, releasing the artery provides better circulation to and therefore from the knee; better circulation to the knee means better nutrition for the tissues and equally important, better uptake of metabolites and fluid. A happier knee all around.
I am one of the few people in Vancouver who has taken this course and I have found it very useful in helping my clients regain pain free use of their hips, knees and ankles.