Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.
When people think of chiropractic
care, they would say we work with the spine, understandably. Chiropractors have
an extraordinary amount of research proving our conservative approach to spinal
problems are effective, safe, and cost a lot less than medical treatment.
Most people can tell you the major
conditions we are known to treat: headaches, neck pain, and low back pain.
Treatments for herniated discs, arm pain, sciatic pain, and rib/thoracic pain
are just a few of the less well known conditions we treat effectively every
day. We have very effective treatment for the symptoms of headache, neck pain,
and dizziness associated with post-concussion neck and head trauma.
But, have you ever heard that
chiropractors can treat almost any joint in the body? Shoulders, elbows,
wrists, hips, knees, ankles, and toes can all become malpositioned and need
adjusted. I’m going to focus on the foot and ankle in this article.
Foot and ankle injuries are by far
the most common athletic injury. They account for at least 25% of injuries in
the top 19 sports. 44% of injuries of runners involve the foot; 63% of running
injuries occur to people between 20 and 40 years old. And those numbers represent only those who
seek care for their injuries. How many
times have you sprained an ankle and never sought care? Probably several, which means those numbers
are a lot higher than reported.
Have you ever sprained an ankle?
Studies show 92% of all people have. Have you ever heard of shin splints,
tarsal tunnel syndrome, flat feet, chondromalacia patella, Osgood-Schlatters,
ACL tears, and low back pain? All involve issues stemming from the feet. A full
88% of all low back pain is due to a structural loss of integrity between the
spine and the lower extremities. It
could be at the foot, knee, hip, pelvis, or sacrum.
In other words, the foundation of
our entire musculoskeletal system starts at the feet. Leg length discrepancy,
foot pronation, knee position, tibial torsion, and hip motion asymmetry are all
places of functional issues causing pain.
The calcaneus of the foot, or heel,
is the bone that sits right under the shin bone, the tibia. When you have an
ankle injury, the calcaneus is most likely to be affected. Malposition of the
heel causes pronation of the foot, or flattened arches. When this happens,
structural integrity from there up is affected. The tibia twists outward,
pushing the knee inward; then the femur twists outward exerting undue forward
pressure on the hip joint. The pelvis then rotates backward; the sacrum rotates
creating a wedge to the opposite side initiating a curve in the low back. And
that’s how everything is connected!
Sure, you probably couldn’t follow
any of that, but you now know that a simple ankle injury can cause you low back
pain or anything in between. Even ankle injuries from decades ago, if never
corrected in the foot, can and do cause problems.
Degenerate conditions of the knee
and hip can, and often do, start in the foot. You see, any joint that is not
properly aligned has an inflammatory response. One of the enzymes released by a
damaged joint is called a lysozyme. Lysozymes eat cartilage. Loss of cartilage
leads to loss of joint space, which, over time, causes bone to contact bone.
When the doctor says you have arthritis of a joint, therein lays the mechanism
of how you got to that point.
So, how should you treat the
injuries you get? First, treat the acute tissue damage, then make sure the
joints are working properly by asking your chiropractor to check them. Once
things are fixed up, wearing functional orthotics to stabilize the foot or treat
a short leg are essential to maintaining structural integrity, balance, and
physical athletic performance. You can’t perform well if your body doesn’t
function properly from the feet on up!
I have seen years of pain subside
by working on the base of the skeletal system, the foot. If you have foot,
knee, hip, or low back pain, get to the chiropractor who can work on those
areas.