Today, I'm going to talk to you about equinus. Equinus, like equestrian means that the foot starts to become shaped like this. It gets shaped like this, front of the foot is down and the heel is up, when our calf muscle is too tight.
So the tightness of the calf and the Achilles tendon results in inability to be able to move your leg forward properly. This is present so frequently, partly because we sit so much, and that calf muscle tightens when we sit. Once this occurs and you can't move the leg forward properly, the force goes somewhere. And guess where it goes? Into the foot.
It can either result in the arch collapsing on this side and it can aggravate conditions on the other side of the foot with tendons. And most commonly, of course, are either pulling of the Achilles tendon itself in the back of the heel. Or pulling on the plantar fascia and giving you heel pain in the bottom of the foot. This condition is so important to recognize in your exam. And once it's recognized, it has to be treated separately and along with any other problem what you present. To learn how to eliminate equinus, view our video, "Treatment of Tight Calf Muscles."
