Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy

Question: Discuss about the Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy. Answer: Introduction: As stated by McClinton et al. (2016) Plantar Flexion is the movement occurring in the feet wherein the ankle is found to be bent. The movement points the foot downwards away from the leg, or the toes curl them towards the sole. Calf and ankle muscles can achieve relaxation with the help of plantar flexion in order to function in an appropriate manner. The expression Plantar Flexion is commonly referred to for describing the toe movement in which the direction of the toe is downward due to straightening or extension of the ankle. The plantar flexor muscles are peroneus brevis, gastrocnemius, flexor digitorumlongus, soleus, tibialis posterior, flexor hallucislongus and peroneus longus. These muscles take part in plantar flexion. According to Golan et al. (2016), plantar flexion is simply the movement of the foot away from the individuals body. It solely depends on the calf and ankle to have normal functioning. The muscles taking part in the plantar flexion are those that are present in the posterior part of the leg. The flexor hallucis longus, the tibialis posterior, and the flexor digitorum longus are the three muscles that are mainly involved in the plantar flexion. The slues, the plantarris, and the gastrocnemius, are the other muscles that termed as superficial posterior compartment muscles. These three muscles are also involved in the process of plantar flexion. As opined by Suzuli et al. (2016) the changes that occur when a patient is asked to plantar flex a foot engages the muscles into a movement. It involves how each muscle works jointly with each other for making the foot have a movement. The action exhibited by the muscle cause the primary movements occurring at the time of muscle contraction. Loss of muscle force can be said to be the most significant result of the immobilisation. Indeed, the loss of force is a time-dependent process, much like the loss of muscle mass. However, it has been seen that the reduction in force is not exactly proportional to the loss that muscle mass suffers. The reason is that the neural input and metabolic energy has a key role in the determination of the ultimate output of force. McNair et al. (2013) highlight that when an individual raises the heel, he can feel the muscle fibers of gastrocnemius to be undergoing contraction. The soleus can be felt to have undergone contraction when the knee is flexed to the fullest and the foot undergoes plantar flexion. However, in this case, the gastrocnemius is fund to be under the relaxed state. This is due to the fact that the lower (calcaneal) and the upper (femoral) attachment of the gastrocnemius are in proximity, thereby making the muscle shorter and preventing them from undergoing contraction. Dalton et al. (2014) state that in individuals having no injury, the highest loss is of 50% strength after the knee is immobilised. The plantar flexors suffer 20% reduction. This is the indication that no substantial relationship is present between the loss of strength and the location and size of the muscles. References Dalton, B.H., Allen, M.D., Power, G.A., Vandervoort, A.A. and Rice, C.L., 2014. The effect of knee joint angle on plantar flexor power in young and old men.Experimental gerontology,52, pp.70-76. Golan, P., Vega, J., de Leeuw, P.A., Malagelada, F., Manzanares, M.C., Gtzens, V. and van Dijk, C.N., 2016. Anatomy of the ankle ligaments: a pictorial essay.Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy,24(4), pp.944-956. McClinton, S., Collazo, C., Vincent, E. and Vardaxis, V., 2016. Impaired Foot Plantar Flexor Muscle Performance in Individuals With Plantar Heel Pain and Association With Foot Orthosis Use.Journal of orthopaedic sports physical therapy,46(8), pp.681-688. McNair, P., Nordez, A., Olds, M., Young, S.W. and Cornu, C., 2013. Biomechanical properties of the plantar flexor muscletendon complex 6 months post?rupture of the achilles tendon.Journal of Orthopaedic Research,31(9), pp.1469-1474. Suzuki, T., Shioda, K., Kinugasa, R. and Fukashiro, S., 2016. Simultaneous Knee Extensor Muscle Action Induces An Increase In Voluntary Force Generation Of Plantar Flexor Muscles.Journal of strength and conditioning research/National Strength Conditioning Association.