ptatc

Let's make deal. I will no longer attempt to help you understand injuries. And will no longer respond to any post regarding them so we no longer have any more of these drawn out discussions. I've only been trying to help.

Always enjoyable.

No. I was giving you the benefit of the doubt that you were mistaking the muscle. You can't move the gastroc out of the way and palpate the plantaris with any confidence.

It is located in the lateral joint area near where the planteris is. I was giving you the benefit of the doubt.

It crosses the joint and is easily palpable in the lateral aspect of the joint. Ive read and studied it plenty. I've also been present during surgeries on it (common issue in runners) and rehabbed a number of them. I know you have a little information and went to therapy but I think you are confused on the muscle because you can't palpate with any confidence the plantaris.

The muscles on the medial/inside of you ankle are the posterior tibialis, flexor hallucis longus and the flexor digitorum longus. These are separate from the Achilles Tendon group that we have been talking about. Those are easily palpable in the tarsal tunnel that is inferior to the medial malleolus or the ankle bone. Those do originate up near the knee as well. So maybe it's the posterior tibial to which you are referring. It also plays a significant function holding up your arch and protecting the plantar fascia. My guess is you mean the posterior tibial if you are palpating it at the ankle.

I've probably been a physical therapist and athletic trainer working with these injuries longer than you've alive. You can't feel the plantaris. But as I said you are probably confusing it with the popliteus that you can palpate.

Well if your therapist showed you, they couldn't be wrong. Just kidding. Like I said in the previous post. You can't feel the contraction of the plantaris. Researchers doing EMG needle studies can't reliably find it because of how small and inconsequential it is. However you can feel the popliteus which is more superficial.

The plantaris has no function in toe gripping. However after reading your posts again, I know where the issue is. You are thinking of the popliteus. It is a tendon that is easily palpable behind the knee. It's function is to rotate the lower leg which is why you feel it when you bring your toes in. It has no function at the toes but when you internally rotate the whole lower leg ie bring the toes in, it pops out. This was important to your plantar fasciitis because one way to stress it is too probate the foot which mechanically goes with lower leg internal rotation. The toe flexion comes into play because if you strengthen the intrinsic toe flexors it holds the arch up thus there is less internal rotation of the lower leg and less stress on the popliteus. Your posts makes sense if it's the popliteus which is easily palpable and superficial to the plantaris which doesn't function the way you are describing it.

The plantaris does not extend further than the gastroc. The gastroc attaches on the femoral condyle as well and is much bigger and superficial than the plantaris. I have never seen nor heard of someone trying to palpate it as it is inconsequential to any actions which is why it is commonly used as a tendon for reconstructions. If you found it more power to you. I've never found a reason to do it. However it has nothing to do with toe motion. Just because it theoretically can help with ankle plantar flexion doesn't mean it's active during that motion.

That is most likely the lateral head of the gastroc which is on top of the plantaris. Could also be the tendon of the popliteus which is also superficial to the plantaris. If you are only moving your toes the flexor digitorum longus attaches just below the knee as well. Just moving your toes will not get a contraction of the plantaris.

It is not the same as gripping with the toes as the gripping mostly comes from the flexor digitorum longus, flexor digitorum brevis and the small intrinsic muscles in the bottom of the foot. Even if you go with what you posted look at the size of the gastroc and the size of the soleus. Do you really think the the tiny muscle of the plantaris is really going to be under stress when this bigger muscles are there?

I would disagree. The muscle is so small and inconsequential to activity. It is so far underneath the gastroc and soles that you really can't feel a contraction of it. The forearm muscles are attached to the fingers. The flexor digitorum superficialis and profundus originate at the medial epicondyle of the elbow.

Although it's a very odd situation, and is a trouble spot for catchers, I can't see it going more than 8 weeks. He should be back.

That's the plantar fascia. It's a piece of inert fascia that supports your arch. The rest is correct. A large heel to toe drop will add too much stress to to the area and cause an inflammation and subsequent degradation to the plantar fascia which goes from the anterior part of the heel to your toes. Shoes are a very important part of the process. Hence the minimalist shoes with a zero drop, are a good intervention.

The plantaris goes from from the femoral condyle to the calcaneus. It does not go to the toes. It might assist the triceps surae (gastroc and soleus) with plantar flexion but it's so small that no one really can agree.

Nice! One of my favorites of all time! Thanks.

Always look on the bright side of life.

It's time to start thinking about shutting Rodon down with mysterious back issues. At this rate he either won't be able to pitch in October or will be really gassed.

Thanks. Doing what I can

I wonder if it was the plantaris but only partially torn so there just went in and released it and it really wasn't a repair. I just can't see a 5 week timeline for a repair. It goes against all principles of healing.

Sorry, no clue on this one. Purely a guess but maybe the gastroc only had a partial one and they were able to tack it down. Even still those are closer to 6-8 weeks. The 5 weeks for a repaired tendon is really odd.

Yep. This is an odd one. Not that I expect anything different from the Sox This year.

This is odd. Usually tendon repairs are 3 months. I'm not sure what they did here.

I wonder which tendon it was? There really isn't a gastroc tendon there.