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Tibialis Posterior Update
An update for the client in the “Tibialis posterior and foot dysfunction” article: the client/student/massage therapist/acupuncturist/volleyball goddess came back to see me yesterday. Her feet still felt much more centered, but the pain in her knees had returned. We moved further up her leg and I checked the pattern in her right femur. I found that the femur was twisted into medial rotation at the iliofemoral joint and into lateral rotation at the tibiofemoral joint. I explored further. What I wanted to know was where it diverged. What level or area of the thigh did the pattern change at?
For this client that happened almost right in the middle of her thigh. This was also the area where she had a large amount of congestion in both her adductors and her hamstrings. First I used the concept of SMRT and took the bone at both ends to duplicate the pattern. I did this with specific force in both hands. I used the same amount of pressure in each hand. Had the divergent point been closer to the knee, I would have used more pressure in my hand on the greater trochanter. Had the divergent point been closer to the hip, I would have used more pressure in my hand on the femoral condyles.
Thirty seconds later the congestion in the adductors and hamstrings had reduced by over 50% and the client was not nearly as tender. After several more SMRT positions, I began to evaluate her hip position. She had significant tension in her right internal oblique muscle. Using the idea of the anterior sling, I reached across her body and found tenderness in the left serratus anterior and external oblique attachments on ribs 5-8. Using the concept of SMRT, I created an SMRT position and moved her right hip and proximal thigh into medial rotation, while bringing her left scapula into abduction and rotating her left shoulder toward her right hip.
I released 30 seconds later and found that much of the tension in her right lower abdomen, adductors, and hamstrings had dissipated. We only had an hour and, at the end, she still need work on this systemic compensation pattern. I only wish she lived near Aurora, CO!!
