What's the source of the problem when one foot is turned out a little?

[Steve Ericson]

Originally Posted by Matt DeMinico

Your right hip {something-or-other-muscle} (don't ask me the name) is tight. I have the same thing. The root cause is likely a movement pattern you're doing, but it could originate anywhere in a number of places. For me it was a tight right ankle in dorsiflexion (think that's what it's called, basically if your knee is over your toes, bent in that direction, the opposite of "pointed toes"). Because it was tight, when I walked, I couldn't get it to full compression, so unconsciously to prevent myself from taking short strides on the right, I turned that foot out slightly to get a little bit more range on it. But because I turned it out, the turn started in the hip, which kept that aformentioned "something-or-other-muscle" in a short position, and it eventually got tight, and it likes to stay in that position now.

Hey Matt, what tests were done in order for you to figure out that your tight ankle was the root of the cause? I have the same problem with my right foot turning out and my right IT band / Piriformis in noticeably tighter than my left. What did the PT (assuming you saw one) have you do?

[Emil Berengut]

Howard, may ask why you want to fix it? Are you having any pain or loss of function as the result? We all have variations in our gait, posture that fall within the normal curve. Also, to really determine why it's happening it would be necessary to do an examination, again which would focus on the functional deficits as opposed to cosmetic variations. If it's not causing any problems, for all you know it's serving a function and you start trying to to fix it something else will give. I'll give you an example-a while back I became determined increase my hamstring flexiblity, mostly for grappling. Well, after about a month or so of regular stretching, I got about 4-5 inches. Soon after, I started having knee problems, because while I addressed the length of the muscle, I failed address the strength of hamstrings, which was the problem to begin with. In other words:" If it ain't broke..."

[Steven Low]

Except it's not really "normal" to have internally or externally rotated feet. It will ultimately mess with your movement patterns and most likely make you more susceptible to injury.

[Howard Wilcox]

Hello Emil,

Well, I guess it doesn't stop me from doing anything. Asymmetry bugs me in general though, and as Steven said, it could lead to other problems. I sometimes feel weird pain that isn't symmetric (only on one side of the body) that could be related, not sure (sometimes in the glutes, sometimes in the hamstrings, sometimes in the lower back/sacro region, etc). Nothing debilitating, but I don't think it is merely DOMS...hence my concern.


howard

[Emil Berengut]

Originally Posted by Steven Low

Except it's not really "normal" to have internally or externally rotated feet. It will ultimately mess with your movement patterns and most likely make you more susceptible to injury.

Steven, I disagree. It is absolutely normal. Every single human on the planet has variations in their allignment. What is the standard that makes us declare 5 degree ER normal and 6 degree not? There are population norms for ROM, but they are just guidelines and AVERAGES, not medians. And still, if one falls outside of that , if it doesn't cause problems , why fix it?
Many dancers have genu recurvatum-are they abnormal?

[Steven Low]

Originally Posted by Emil Berengut

Steven, I disagree. It is absolutely normal. Every single human on the planet has variations in their allignment. What is the standard that makes us declare 5 degree ER normal and 6 degree not? There are population norms for ROM, but they are just guidelines and AVERAGES, not medians. And still, if one falls outside of that , if it doesn't cause problems , why fix it?
Many dancers have genu recurvatum-are they abnormal?

The point is if you want anything close to optimal athletic performance you need your stuff very close to in line. Obviously, some people have poor genetics, and they're going to be off because they're born that way; no one is perfect. However, if someone is off by ~5 degrees it's not going to make THAT much of a difference. But if you're trying to do sprints with a hip that's externally rotated out 30 degrees... I think you're gonna have some problems.

Don't mess with my generalizations. Didn't see this sooner but I thought it was worth commenting on.