Sports Performance. Tibial Torsion, you're pulling my Leg?

Today a patient asked me 'to pull her toes again, just like I did last time, because it helped her to run better'.  It's a rare event that any woman will ask me to pull her toes, (and her foot adjustment was more than just toes) but to someone who is in training for a marathon, this can make a big difference. I have a knack for working on feet; I have been checking and adjusting the 26 bones of the feet on thousands of people for more than a decade.

In my first article in 2000 I illustrated how important Chiropractic is to professional athletes. A well aligned body functions at a much higher level, then the same body in a twisted and maligned state. Better structure, better function and in the case of the athlete, that translates to better sports performance. A clinical study demonstrated that those receiving chiropractic treatments over 12 weeks verses a control group that did not, had a 16.7% increase in measured performance while the other group experienced only 6.4%.

How can that be you might ask? Well for one, many athletes are walking wounded, with previous battle scars, older injuries, that pelage them and decrease performance. Ever twisted your ankle? Many people have and I am constantly finding athletes with tibial torsion, i.e. a twisted calf bone. Joints can become twisted, by several degrees or millimeters, you may not feel it but your body mechanics are altered due to the twisted joint. No they don't work better; they experience an immediate decrease in function. A good Sports Chiropractor can spot the affected areas with pin pointed muscle tests, or by simply feeling each joint for twisting, compression and subluxation. Tibial torsion puts pressure on the knee and sets the stage for early insidious knee injury. I know I had this happen in 2010.

I had been learning and snowboarding and in several falls I twisted my left knee pretty good. Well seem to heal ok, several months latter I'm simply crossing the street and get into a little jog thing, land on it with hardly any weight and OOHH there goes my left knee! Well I baby it or a month and now I'm out camping and go a little jump off a rock and land with a slight twist, yup now that gonna hurt. Next day I see three doctors, shots, tape, anti inflammatories, ice, ultra sound, muscle stim., $60.00 knee brace and my Chiropractor friend say to me, that knee will never be the same I'm so sorry. I hand him the activator and I tell him to adjust it, he looks astonished and says I might need an MRI. ADJUST HERE I tell him and I show him where to place the instrument and the angle to use to readjust my tibia bone. He does it and, I it immediately feels my better. I had swelling for a while but with the proper adjustments and proper exercises, I can now say the that my knee, in fact both knees are the strongest they have been in 10 years! So please doctor pull my leg!