Dear Colleagues,
On September 26, 2018, I was invited to write an article for a biomechanics magazine about Reactive Biomechanics.
In January, 2019, when they learned how significant the discovery was, they asked me to turn it into a series of three articles.
They reviewed the articles last week…
*chuckles* I was wondering when they were going to figure out that the discoveries would be disruptive to advertisers (especially diabetic shoes)…
Needless to say, they’ve suggested other publishing pathways for me. After looking at their latest issue and who advertises, I can certainly understand and respect their right to make that choice. With the independence I have as a clinician, I have the right to still recommend the articles to my tribe of fellow prosthetists and orthotists.
At a fundraiser last night, a DPT friend of 20 years said, “…yes, yes, that confirms what I’ve always suspected! They’ve never had the ankle model figured out right! All you did was connect the dots, provide the research, and call them out on it.”
Yes. That’s it… In the fable of the Emperor’s New Clothes, it doesn’t take brilliance to figure out that the emperor is naked. You merely point out the obvious (or the slightly less obvious in the case of an emperor on a cold day). Three years ago, it started with a conversation with an NFL orthopedic surgeon ankle specialist. We knew we were both right, but on totally different pages. As you will see in the articles, all I’ve done is figure out how these pages fit together. Only then did I realize that the biomechanics field, rather than doing what this surgeon and I had done, have asserted that only their page is valid. That there is only one perspective… one answer… one page. And it astounded me.
So here’s the link to my LinkedIn article. The third article has the clinical insights (spoiler alert- heel lifts can reduce falls & DM ulcers), the first article explains how there’s 50% more ankle power from the toe lever (which they left out), and the second article gets deeper into gastroc and the knee.
I’m proud to tell prosthetists and orthotists how these oversights and shortcomings are a result of neglecting the validity of the voice of our profession in rehabilitation. “You’re the brace guy… you’re the prosthetic gal… what do you know about biomechanics?” And the answer is that we know something very critical about understanding biomechanics and gait.
Enjoy,
Thomas J. Cutler, CPO, FAAOP
Limbitless LLC
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.linkedin.com_pulse_reactive-2Dbiomechanics-2Dpart-2D1-2D3-2Dleveraging-2Ddisruption-2Dachieve-2Dcutler_-3Fpublished-3Dt&d=DwIF-g&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=pVyaAUHOR6gxxThvjGI9X7hrz_ONYByMAadML4fTENI&m=Y1v89NBu3ghIqXFfzQL68bTKtqx6fSoUQWOd1hWm8cw&s=IG3TQJg0sLMZZGAbw3F2eisKy2Pc0XLmruphhHGdBPc&e=
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