Biomechanics Confusing?        

I have no axe to grind here. In fact, I have the utmost admiration for our collective forefathers and the structure that they placed into the realm of biomechanics. The nomenclature that they created alone was a fantastic feat that put us all on the same playing field as a standardized nomenclature allowed us to communicate using the same terms and subsequent meanings.   

But with that being said, what did we really learn in school?  In essence, we learned a lot of facts and minutia. Like the number of degrees every axis in the foot was off of each of the cardinal planes and when this segment pronated, this segment supinated etc... 

Remember that formula that that told you how to divide the total varus between the forefoot and rear foot posts?  

And when was the last time you used that moon shaped goniometer or marked up your patient’s heel and used the term resting calcaneal stance position? 

The point here is simply to ask, how does all knowing all that relate to your patient saying my heel hurts or my knee hurts or that last adjustment you made to my orthotics made things worse and not better?

I am sure that there are those out there that can actually connect those dots but I never could and the vast majority of the people I have spoken to over the years never could or they wouldn’t almost one for one say “before I spoke to you, biomechanics never made any sense”.

For so many people to say this to me there must either be a significant degree of confusion in the subject or it is not directly translatable into a practical use.   

Your inability to incorporate that biomechanical technology and model that we learned in school into your practice does not mean that you are not capable of assessing your patient’s mechanics! 

There is a very basic purpose that biomechanics serves and when you command it, the sky is the limit with respect to opening up your indications, providing a more comprehensive service to your patients in general and doing large numbers of orthotics each month in your practice. 

Increased Indications►