Discussion: Quadriceps strength

OK I am very puzzled. Have been going to a chiropractor for therapy on IT Band and piriformis. At every visit I am asked to lie on my back and lift my leg up at about 20deg, I am then asked to resist as she presses down on my leg and I singularly fail. Then after some quick tweaking (ie twisting a stone 3 or 4 times with light/moderate pressure) at a specific point on my quads about 1/3 way down on the inside I can resist with virtually no effort. The change is staggering and instantaneous! Does anybody have any idea what this "correction" is??

Ummm... she's faking the pressure the 2nd time to make you think she did something useful? :-)

I'm not sure I'm picturing this accurately. Are you lifting your leg with the knee straight or bent? And at what point on your leg is she pressing?

Why not ask the chiropractor?

Tried asking, just get an answer like "clears the neural pathway" but no more specific. Seems to be treated as a trade secret!

Leg is straight and she presses on knee and upper part of shin.

I would be very skeptical of anybody working in a technical field who can't (or won't) explain what they are doing and why it works.

There is a fair bit of research on how muscles respond to repeated efforts. The first effort is almost always really lame. My guess is that you'd have no trouble with the second attempt even if she did nothing in between. That's not to say that whatever she's doing doesn't help, just that there are a lot of confounding variables and the anecdote you provide does nothing to eliminate them.

Sounds like a typical chiro scam to me. In any case, what's the point? Is this to correct your aforementioned ITB problem?

I myself think them a bunch of quacks, equal only to snake oil salesmen of old. My family believes whole heartedly in this nonsense.

That might be a tad harsh. The last time I really messed up my back was December 2002 (insert joke about Kate finally getting pregnant here). This was not the garden-variety "ow, my back hurts." This was complete incapacitation. I went to a local guy who has done a fair bit of work with the pro athletes in town and he did have me back on my feet in days, and competing in mid-January. The methods he used were hardly novel, or even particularly chiropractic (mostly it was massage, heat, and standard physical therapy), but they did work quite well. As with all service providers, it's wise to shop around and get some referals.

Hello there, I had a friend pass this discussion along to me so I think I will try to add to it. I am a chiropractor and although I don't practice the methods described I have heard of them. I don't know enough to comment about their validity although I believe the technique may be called "applied kinesiology" so if you wanted to do your own research you could start there. Your chiropractor should also be able to give you more of a description than she has or at least provide you with the appropriate literature. As long as things are getting progressively better though. If you are having the same level of weakness and muscular imbalance (a main cause of ITB syndrome) every time you go and the treatment is only temporarily corrective you may want to ask more questions but if you are getting better stick with it.

In no way am I trying to suggest changing treatment but you are entitled to know what the treatment you are receiving is and why it is working (some of it is based on theory but if it works it's always worth a try). So best of luck with the ITB!

I thought "applied kinesiology" was a major, not a technique. Come to think of it, it was my first wife's major. Then again, that was a looooong time ago.

Looooong time?

If you're trying to make me feel old, I guess it's working. I remember meeting her a few times. Elaine I think it was. Maybe you should introduce #2 sometime so we can get mentally reoriented!

[If you want a real blast from the past, consider that Bopper's dad is now my next door neighbor.]

Thanks Leanne, I did some digging and appears to be something to do with massaging muscle spindle cells back into normal function. Other people I have met have had the same thing done and they all have noted that the effect is dramatic and instantaneous!

If you didn't already feel old, why did you pick a screen name like "fossil"?

Apologies to everybody else for wandering off topic.

Something you can always try at home too AndyB is to take a rolling pin (yup that's right) and massage down the ITB's with it. The ITB is very fibrous tissue and it is not always easy to get a good stretch so I find this helps to keep them loose.

Ah, the ol massaging the muscle spindle cells trick. :-) Yeah.

All seriousness aside here, I will agree that the roller technique works. I use a special 12" foam roller that you lay on sideways. I think it was designed for aerobics or stretching. It is particularly painful with your full body weight on it but it does the trick for stretching the ITB. It is also helpful in refining the exact threshold for pain at which I scream bloody murder. Always good to know.

http://www.power-systems.com/p-3027-high-density-f...

Mmmmm... foam roller. Gets a regular workout for ITB stretching/massage from me and others I know.