Deborah Weidhaas

You must get the navicular to lift up. Many times, I need to: 1) mobilize the cuboid (give it “wiggle room”) enough to ease its fixation from the flat foot pattern; and 2) work through the metatarsal tissues if they have gotten dense over years of use with a fallen navicular. The navicular won’t budge until metatarsals have some “wiggle room” allowing the navicular to make the change you’re asking for. If the metatarsals are particularly stubborn, I begin by “unwinding” the first and/or second metatarsal-phalangeal joint. Unwinding is my term for Jeff Maitland’s technique of: compress the joint, wait for the body to take you into the level you need (in this case, joint capsule) and then follow its dance – its unwinding.

You can also get navicular lift (and definitely a reduction of surrounding fixated fibers) by working with the foot while being bossy about putting it in inversion. In inversion, navicular normal motion is to lift up, so you use inversion as leverage to make your work more influential on the pattern. By the way, cuboid’s normal motion in inversion is to go down.

Also, one trick I came up with is to have the client sitting with feet flat on the floor. I get my fingers wedged under that navicular (work only one foot at a time) and have the client forcefully push the foot in two directions at once – down into the floor and forward (like trying to spread forward or slide forward) on the floor. I feel for muscular work happening through the whole leg and hip. It doesn’t work well when the client is only trying to do this movement from the knee down. I’ll have the client push and hold for a few seconds, then ease up. Then I re-wedge my fingers on navicular and we repeat this process a few times. My clients always feel more lifted in the foot and leg after this.

In doing the unwinding I described for toe joints, I never have my hands on the body/ tissues as lightly as Upledger teaches. I really get my hands on the thing and compress. I have well-developed pecs thanks to this work. Upledger would probably freak over the pounds of pressure (with listening of course) I put into a joint capsule before following it, and how bossy I get with my intent when the tissues have forgotten how to give, especially so for feet, hands, knees, and elbows.

James Schwartz

Releasing rotations in the legs gives me the most dramatic results in finding lift in a dropped arch…

Also – I just found some notes on foot work from Michael Salveson’s class – I pass them on as is:

“…the ankle is the only joint that makes the transition from vertical, where we live, to horizontal, where we move.

“Inversion/ eversion – takes place between talus and calcaneus and navicular and cuboid. Supination/pronation occurs mostly in cuneiforms and metatarsals. This is not a voluntary movement – it occurs in response to weight-bearing and is crucial for the foot to adapt to irregular surfaces. Orthotics mainly deal with this and with eversion. Loss in joint play has an adverse affect on large voluntary motions. Normal joint play is a prerequisite to normal voluntary motion. Joint play is an involuntary motion that is determined by the plane of the facets of the joints.

“Yoga is about putting the body in a mechanical position to work through the elastic barrier, which in normal motion is hard to affect.

“When working with fixations you have to take the bone into its (pathological) neutral where it has maximum joint play – then it starts to unwind.

“When you get fixations in the cuboid or navicular, this will cause problems in the transverse metatarsal arch. You must balance cuboid-navicular first.

“To get good motion through metatarsals you often have to pop them.

“The lateral ligaments of the foot (tibia to talus) are thinner and allow more movement – it is almost always these that sprain. The talus is the only bone in the body with no muscular attachments. The cuboid is the keystone of the lateral arch.

“The talus takes vertical force and directs it obliquely to the lateral and medial arches and back to the calcaneus. Mobilizing the talus on the calcaneus will have the most powerful effect of any joint.”

Tom Findley

In kids the control of the calcaneus contributes to the height of the arch. A shoe with a tightly-fitting heel will keep the calcaneus upright. This is the standard medical approach. Pediatric-sized heel cups are available to take up the space, as most shoes are too loose in the heel. Shoes with narrow heel and wider toes are built on a “combination . last” but are very hard to find these days except at a custom shoemaker.

But you can get similar results with rotation of the tibia in relation to the foot. Put weight on your own foot and rotate your leg in and out – note how the arch changes. If the angle of the tibia stays constant, as the foot tracks straighter ahead the arch will rise.

Emmett Hutchins

If it weren’t for the fact that I had hopelessly flat feet I probably would not be a Structural Integration practitioner today. Thirty five years ago I made my first appointment for Rolfing on the basis of a rumor which claimed that there was a woman in Pasadena, Hadijah Lamas, who could help people create arches. My father, God bless him, made me feel less than adequate as a human being because of my flat feet. No one on either side of my family had flat feet and he considered it to be somewhat of a character flaw. So I had a strong incentive to explore any system which might help me to create arches. To tell the truth, my arches did not immediately spring to life and by the time I met Dr. Rolf, three years later, I still did not have the arches I had hoped for. But you can be sure that I carefully noted everything she had to say about fallen arches during my training. Today, I do have functional arches and they serve me quite well. So let me offer you (from my original class notes) a small sample of Dr. Rolf quotes with regard to arches:

“Flat feet are not flat feet; they are flat shins, disorganization of the muscles crossing the shin. If you really know shin and retinacular anatomy, you should have no real problem with flat feet.

“Unless a bone has been traumatically moved, our work need only be on the fascia to restore function. The flattened, fallen bones never get to a place where they cannot revert back to give normal support… unless they are genetically malformed or severely damaged surgically.

“Club feet are in the spine. A child with club feet has a problem from the bottom of the spine to the occiput.

“No foot has ever broken down until the outer arch breaks down. While the outer arch is intact, the foot is intact.”

I don’t believe that I or anyone else can create arches on another person without their active participation. It was Dr. Rolf’s belief, however, that good fascial work along with diligent attention to the feet and where the weight is placed, along with the leg rotation exercises which she taught, would be sufficient for anyone to develop arches. Any of the old-time Rolf movement people are familiar with this exercise. It is also taught in many Rolf training classes.

So the question of how many Rolfers it takes to create a pair of arches is like the old question, “How many psychiatrists does it take to screw in a light bulb?” One Rolfer can create arches, but the arches really have to want to change.

Wiley Patterson

I sat in on orthopedic grand rounds this morning and the topic was posterior tibial tendon defects. Many pictures of flat feet and valgus ankles were shown. The tendons were inflamed, perhaps eroded partially, but none were severed.

Three classifications were discussed:

1. Tendon defect, with no ankle valgus.

2. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, but the foot is still supple.

3. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, rigid foot.

A fourth classification (rarer) included tibial plafond involvement.

I watched as the residents were grilled regarding the efficacies of flexor hallucis longus vs. flexor digitorum longus tendon transfers. Also, talar osteotomies and three joint fusions. I saw the beautifully straight, titanium screw-supported ankles in the post-op X-rays. Those guys really do great work.

There wasn’t a single case presented that would not have responded well to the Rolfer’s hand, that is, if their arch really wanted improvement, as per Emmett.

Dr. Rolf said, “Flat or high does not matter, as long as the arch is responsive”.[:de]Deborah Weidhaas

You must get the navicular to lift up. Many times, I need to: 1) mobilize the cuboid (give it “wiggle room”) enough to ease its fixation from the flat foot pattern; and 2) work through the metatarsal tissues if they have gotten dense over years of use with a fallen navicular. The navicular won’t budge until metatarsals have some “wiggle room” allowing the navicular to make the change you’re asking for. If the metatarsals are particularly stubborn, I begin by “unwinding” the first and/or second metatarsal-phalangeal joint. Unwinding is my term for Jeff Maitland’s technique of: compress the joint, wait for the body to take you into the level you need (in this case, joint capsule) and then follow its dance – its unwinding.

You can also get navicular lift (and definitely a reduction of surrounding fixated fibers) by working with the foot while being bossy about putting it in inversion. In inversion, navicular normal motion is to lift up, so you use inversion as leverage to make your work more influential on the pattern. By the way, cuboid’s normal motion in inversion is to go down.

Also, one trick I came up with is to have the client sitting with feet flat on the floor. I get my fingers wedged under that navicular (work only one foot at a time) and have the client forcefully push the foot in two directions at once – down into the floor and forward (like trying to spread forward or slide forward) on the floor. I feel for muscular work happening through the whole leg and hip. It doesn’t work well when the client is only trying to do this movement from the knee down. I’ll have the client push and hold for a few seconds, then ease up. Then I re-wedge my fingers on navicular and we repeat this process a few times. My clients always feel more lifted in the foot and leg after this.

In doing the unwinding I described for toe joints, I never have my hands on the body/ tissues as lightly as Upledger teaches. I really get my hands on the thing and compress. I have well-developed pecs thanks to this work. Upledger would probably freak over the pounds of pressure (with listening of course) I put into a joint capsule before following it, and how bossy I get with my intent when the tissues have forgotten how to give, especially so for feet, hands, knees, and elbows.

James Schwartz

Releasing rotations in the legs gives me the most dramatic results in finding lift in a dropped arch…

Also – I just found some notes on foot work from Michael Salveson’s class – I pass them on as is:

“…the ankle is the only joint that makes the transition from vertical, where we live, to horizontal, where we move.

“Inversion/ eversion – takes place between talus and calcaneus and navicular and cuboid. Supination/pronation occurs mostly in cuneiforms and metatarsals. This is not a voluntary movement – it occurs in response to weight-bearing and is crucial for the foot to adapt to irregular surfaces. Orthotics mainly deal with this and with eversion. Loss in joint play has an adverse affect on large voluntary motions. Normal joint play is a prerequisite to normal voluntary motion. Joint play is an involuntary motion that is determined by the plane of the facets of the joints.

“Yoga is about putting the body in a mechanical position to work through the elastic barrier, which in normal motion is hard to affect.

“When working with fixations you have to take the bone into its (pathological) neutral where it has maximum joint play – then it starts to unwind.

“When you get fixations in the cuboid or navicular, this will cause problems in the transverse metatarsal arch. You must balance cuboid-navicular first.

“To get good motion through metatarsals you often have to pop them.

“The lateral ligaments of the foot (tibia to talus) are thinner and allow more movement – it is almost always these that sprain. The talus is the only bone in the body with no muscular attachments. The cuboid is the keystone of the lateral arch.

“The talus takes vertical force and directs it obliquely to the lateral and medial arches and back to the calcaneus. Mobilizing the talus on the calcaneus will have the most powerful effect of any joint.”

Tom Findley

In kids the control of the calcaneus contributes to the height of the arch. A shoe with a tightly-fitting heel will keep the calcaneus upright. This is the standard medical approach. Pediatric-sized heel cups are available to take up the space, as most shoes are too loose in the heel. Shoes with narrow heel and wider toes are built on a “combination . last” but are very hard to find these days except at a custom shoemaker.

But you can get similar results with rotation of the tibia in relation to the foot. Put weight on your own foot and rotate your leg in and out – note how the arch changes. If the angle of the tibia stays constant, as the foot tracks straighter ahead the arch will rise.

Emmett Hutchins

If it weren’t for the fact that I had hopelessly flat feet I probably would not be a Structural Integration practitioner today. Thirty five years ago I made my first appointment for Rolfing on the basis of a rumor which claimed that there was a woman in Pasadena, Hadijah Lamas, who could help people create arches. My father, God bless him, made me feel less than adequate as a human being because of my flat feet. No one on either side of my family had flat feet and he considered it to be somewhat of a character flaw. So I had a strong incentive to explore any system which might help me to create arches. To tell the truth, my arches did not immediately spring to life and by the time I met Dr. Rolf, three years later, I still did not have the arches I had hoped for. But you can be sure that I carefully noted everything she had to say about fallen arches during my training. Today, I do have functional arches and they serve me quite well. So let me offer you (from my original class notes) a small sample of Dr. Rolf quotes with regard to arches:

“Flat feet are not flat feet; they are flat shins, disorganization of the muscles crossing the shin. If you really know shin and retinacular anatomy, you should have no real problem with flat feet.

“Unless a bone has been traumatically moved, our work need only be on the fascia to restore function. The flattened, fallen bones never get to a place where they cannot revert back to give normal support… unless they are genetically malformed or severely damaged surgically.

“Club feet are in the spine. A child with club feet has a problem from the bottom of the spine to the occiput.

“No foot has ever broken down until the outer arch breaks down. While the outer arch is intact, the foot is intact.”

I don’t believe that I or anyone else can create arches on another person without their active participation. It was Dr. Rolf’s belief, however, that good fascial work along with diligent attention to the feet and where the weight is placed, along with the leg rotation exercises which she taught, would be sufficient for anyone to develop arches. Any of the old-time Rolf movement people are familiar with this exercise. It is also taught in many Rolf training classes.

So the question of how many Rolfers it takes to create a pair of arches is like the old question, “How many psychiatrists does it take to screw in a light bulb?” One Rolfer can create arches, but the arches really have to want to change.

Wiley Patterson

I sat in on orthopedic grand rounds this morning and the topic was posterior tibial tendon defects. Many pictures of flat feet and valgus ankles were shown. The tendons were inflamed, perhaps eroded partially, but none were severed.

Three classifications were discussed:

1. Tendon defect, with no ankle valgus.

2. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, but the foot is still supple.

3. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, rigid foot.

A fourth classification (rarer) included tibial plafond involvement.

I watched as the residents were grilled regarding the efficacies of flexor hallucis longus vs. flexor digitorum longus tendon transfers. Also, talar osteotomies and three joint fusions. I saw the beautifully straight, titanium screw-supported ankles in the post-op X-rays. Those guys really do great work.

There wasn’t a single case presented that would not have responded well to the Rolfer’s hand, that is, if their arch really wanted improvement, as per Emmett.

Dr. Rolf said, “Flat or high does not matter, as long as the arch is responsive”.[:fr]Deborah Weidhaas

You must get the navicular to lift up. Many times, I need to: 1) mobilize the cuboid (give it “wiggle room”) enough to ease its fixation from the flat foot pattern; and 2) work through the metatarsal tissues if they have gotten dense over years of use with a fallen navicular. The navicular won’t budge until metatarsals have some “wiggle room” allowing the navicular to make the change you’re asking for. If the metatarsals are particularly stubborn, I begin by “unwinding” the first and/or second metatarsal-phalangeal joint. Unwinding is my term for Jeff Maitland’s technique of: compress the joint, wait for the body to take you into the level you need (in this case, joint capsule) and then follow its dance – its unwinding.

You can also get navicular lift (and definitely a reduction of surrounding fixated fibers) by working with the foot while being bossy about putting it in inversion. In inversion, navicular normal motion is to lift up, so you use inversion as leverage to make your work more influential on the pattern. By the way, cuboid’s normal motion in inversion is to go down.

Also, one trick I came up with is to have the client sitting with feet flat on the floor. I get my fingers wedged under that navicular (work only one foot at a time) and have the client forcefully push the foot in two directions at once – down into the floor and forward (like trying to spread forward or slide forward) on the floor. I feel for muscular work happening through the whole leg and hip. It doesn’t work well when the client is only trying to do this movement from the knee down. I’ll have the client push and hold for a few seconds, then ease up. Then I re-wedge my fingers on navicular and we repeat this process a few times. My clients always feel more lifted in the foot and leg after this.

In doing the unwinding I described for toe joints, I never have my hands on the body/ tissues as lightly as Upledger teaches. I really get my hands on the thing and compress. I have well-developed pecs thanks to this work. Upledger would probably freak over the pounds of pressure (with listening of course) I put into a joint capsule before following it, and how bossy I get with my intent when the tissues have forgotten how to give, especially so for feet, hands, knees, and elbows.

James Schwartz

Releasing rotations in the legs gives me the most dramatic results in finding lift in a dropped arch…

Also – I just found some notes on foot work from Michael Salveson’s class – I pass them on as is:

“…the ankle is the only joint that makes the transition from vertical, where we live, to horizontal, where we move.

“Inversion/ eversion – takes place between talus and calcaneus and navicular and cuboid. Supination/pronation occurs mostly in cuneiforms and metatarsals. This is not a voluntary movement – it occurs in response to weight-bearing and is crucial for the foot to adapt to irregular surfaces. Orthotics mainly deal with this and with eversion. Loss in joint play has an adverse affect on large voluntary motions. Normal joint play is a prerequisite to normal voluntary motion. Joint play is an involuntary motion that is determined by the plane of the facets of the joints.

“Yoga is about putting the body in a mechanical position to work through the elastic barrier, which in normal motion is hard to affect.

“When working with fixations you have to take the bone into its (pathological) neutral where it has maximum joint play – then it starts to unwind.

“When you get fixations in the cuboid or navicular, this will cause problems in the transverse metatarsal arch. You must balance cuboid-navicular first.

“To get good motion through metatarsals you often have to pop them.

“The lateral ligaments of the foot (tibia to talus) are thinner and allow more movement – it is almost always these that sprain. The talus is the only bone in the body with no muscular attachments. The cuboid is the keystone of the lateral arch.

“The talus takes vertical force and directs it obliquely to the lateral and medial arches and back to the calcaneus. Mobilizing the talus on the calcaneus will have the most powerful effect of any joint.”

Tom Findley

In kids the control of the calcaneus contributes to the height of the arch. A shoe with a tightly-fitting heel will keep the calcaneus upright. This is the standard medical approach. Pediatric-sized heel cups are available to take up the space, as most shoes are too loose in the heel. Shoes with narrow heel and wider toes are built on a “combination . last” but are very hard to find these days except at a custom shoemaker.

But you can get similar results with rotation of the tibia in relation to the foot. Put weight on your own foot and rotate your leg in and out – note how the arch changes. If the angle of the tibia stays constant, as the foot tracks straighter ahead the arch will rise.

Emmett Hutchins

If it weren’t for the fact that I had hopelessly flat feet I probably would not be a Structural Integration practitioner today. Thirty five years ago I made my first appointment for Rolfing on the basis of a rumor which claimed that there was a woman in Pasadena, Hadijah Lamas, who could help people create arches. My father, God bless him, made me feel less than adequate as a human being because of my flat feet. No one on either side of my family had flat feet and he considered it to be somewhat of a character flaw. So I had a strong incentive to explore any system which might help me to create arches. To tell the truth, my arches did not immediately spring to life and by the time I met Dr. Rolf, three years later, I still did not have the arches I had hoped for. But you can be sure that I carefully noted everything she had to say about fallen arches during my training. Today, I do have functional arches and they serve me quite well. So let me offer you (from my original class notes) a small sample of Dr. Rolf quotes with regard to arches:

“Flat feet are not flat feet; they are flat shins, disorganization of the muscles crossing the shin. If you really know shin and retinacular anatomy, you should have no real problem with flat feet.

“Unless a bone has been traumatically moved, our work need only be on the fascia to restore function. The flattened, fallen bones never get to a place where they cannot revert back to give normal support… unless they are genetically malformed or severely damaged surgically.

“Club feet are in the spine. A child with club feet has a problem from the bottom of the spine to the occiput.

“No foot has ever broken down until the outer arch breaks down. While the outer arch is intact, the foot is intact.”

I don’t believe that I or anyone else can create arches on another person without their active participation. It was Dr. Rolf’s belief, however, that good fascial work along with diligent attention to the feet and where the weight is placed, along with the leg rotation exercises which she taught, would be sufficient for anyone to develop arches. Any of the old-time Rolf movement people are familiar with this exercise. It is also taught in many Rolf training classes.

So the question of how many Rolfers it takes to create a pair of arches is like the old question, “How many psychiatrists does it take to screw in a light bulb?” One Rolfer can create arches, but the arches really have to want to change.

Wiley Patterson

I sat in on orthopedic grand rounds this morning and the topic was posterior tibial tendon defects. Many pictures of flat feet and valgus ankles were shown. The tendons were inflamed, perhaps eroded partially, but none were severed.

Three classifications were discussed:

1. Tendon defect, with no ankle valgus.

2. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, but the foot is still supple.

3. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, rigid foot.

A fourth classification (rarer) included tibial plafond involvement.

I watched as the residents were grilled regarding the efficacies of flexor hallucis longus vs. flexor digitorum longus tendon transfers. Also, talar osteotomies and three joint fusions. I saw the beautifully straight, titanium screw-supported ankles in the post-op X-rays. Those guys really do great work.

There wasn’t a single case presented that would not have responded well to the Rolfer’s hand, that is, if their arch really wanted improvement, as per Emmett.

Dr. Rolf said, “Flat or high does not matter, as long as the arch is responsive”.[:es]Deborah Weidhaas

You must get the navicular to lift up. Many times, I need to: 1) mobilize the cuboid (give it “wiggle room”) enough to ease its fixation from the flat foot pattern; and 2) work through the metatarsal tissues if they have gotten dense over years of use with a fallen navicular. The navicular won’t budge until metatarsals have some “wiggle room” allowing the navicular to make the change you’re asking for. If the metatarsals are particularly stubborn, I begin by “unwinding” the first and/or second metatarsal-phalangeal joint. Unwinding is my term for Jeff Maitland’s technique of: compress the joint, wait for the body to take you into the level you need (in this case, joint capsule) and then follow its dance – its unwinding.

You can also get navicular lift (and definitely a reduction of surrounding fixated fibers) by working with the foot while being bossy about putting it in inversion. In inversion, navicular normal motion is to lift up, so you use inversion as leverage to make your work more influential on the pattern. By the way, cuboid’s normal motion in inversion is to go down.

Also, one trick I came up with is to have the client sitting with feet flat on the floor. I get my fingers wedged under that navicular (work only one foot at a time) and have the client forcefully push the foot in two directions at once – down into the floor and forward (like trying to spread forward or slide forward) on the floor. I feel for muscular work happening through the whole leg and hip. It doesn’t work well when the client is only trying to do this movement from the knee down. I’ll have the client push and hold for a few seconds, then ease up. Then I re-wedge my fingers on navicular and we repeat this process a few times. My clients always feel more lifted in the foot and leg after this.

In doing the unwinding I described for toe joints, I never have my hands on the body/ tissues as lightly as Upledger teaches. I really get my hands on the thing and compress. I have well-developed pecs thanks to this work. Upledger would probably freak over the pounds of pressure (with listening of course) I put into a joint capsule before following it, and how bossy I get with my intent when the tissues have forgotten how to give, especially so for feet, hands, knees, and elbows.

James Schwartz

Releasing rotations in the legs gives me the most dramatic results in finding lift in a dropped arch…

Also – I just found some notes on foot work from Michael Salveson’s class – I pass them on as is:

“…the ankle is the only joint that makes the transition from vertical, where we live, to horizontal, where we move.

“Inversion/ eversion – takes place between talus and calcaneus and navicular and cuboid. Supination/pronation occurs mostly in cuneiforms and metatarsals. This is not a voluntary movement – it occurs in response to weight-bearing and is crucial for the foot to adapt to irregular surfaces. Orthotics mainly deal with this and with eversion. Loss in joint play has an adverse affect on large voluntary motions. Normal joint play is a prerequisite to normal voluntary motion. Joint play is an involuntary motion that is determined by the plane of the facets of the joints.

“Yoga is about putting the body in a mechanical position to work through the elastic barrier, which in normal motion is hard to affect.

“When working with fixations you have to take the bone into its (pathological) neutral where it has maximum joint play – then it starts to unwind.

“When you get fixations in the cuboid or navicular, this will cause problems in the transverse metatarsal arch. You must balance cuboid-navicular first.

“To get good motion through metatarsals you often have to pop them.

“The lateral ligaments of the foot (tibia to talus) are thinner and allow more movement – it is almost always these that sprain. The talus is the only bone in the body with no muscular attachments. The cuboid is the keystone of the lateral arch.

“The talus takes vertical force and directs it obliquely to the lateral and medial arches and back to the calcaneus. Mobilizing the talus on the calcaneus will have the most powerful effect of any joint.”

Tom Findley

In kids the control of the calcaneus contributes to the height of the arch. A shoe with a tightly-fitting heel will keep the calcaneus upright. This is the standard medical approach. Pediatric-sized heel cups are available to take up the space, as most shoes are too loose in the heel. Shoes with narrow heel and wider toes are built on a “combination . last” but are very hard to find these days except at a custom shoemaker.

But you can get similar results with rotation of the tibia in relation to the foot. Put weight on your own foot and rotate your leg in and out – note how the arch changes. If the angle of the tibia stays constant, as the foot tracks straighter ahead the arch will rise.

Emmett Hutchins

If it weren’t for the fact that I had hopelessly flat feet I probably would not be a Structural Integration practitioner today. Thirty five years ago I made my first appointment for Rolfing on the basis of a rumor which claimed that there was a woman in Pasadena, Hadijah Lamas, who could help people create arches. My father, God bless him, made me feel less than adequate as a human being because of my flat feet. No one on either side of my family had flat feet and he considered it to be somewhat of a character flaw. So I had a strong incentive to explore any system which might help me to create arches. To tell the truth, my arches did not immediately spring to life and by the time I met Dr. Rolf, three years later, I still did not have the arches I had hoped for. But you can be sure that I carefully noted everything she had to say about fallen arches during my training. Today, I do have functional arches and they serve me quite well. So let me offer you (from my original class notes) a small sample of Dr. Rolf quotes with regard to arches:

“Flat feet are not flat feet; they are flat shins, disorganization of the muscles crossing the shin. If you really know shin and retinacular anatomy, you should have no real problem with flat feet.

“Unless a bone has been traumatically moved, our work need only be on the fascia to restore function. The flattened, fallen bones never get to a place where they cannot revert back to give normal support… unless they are genetically malformed or severely damaged surgically.

“Club feet are in the spine. A child with club feet has a problem from the bottom of the spine to the occiput.

“No foot has ever broken down until the outer arch breaks down. While the outer arch is intact, the foot is intact.”

I don’t believe that I or anyone else can create arches on another person without their active participation. It was Dr. Rolf’s belief, however, that good fascial work along with diligent attention to the feet and where the weight is placed, along with the leg rotation exercises which she taught, would be sufficient for anyone to develop arches. Any of the old-time Rolf movement people are familiar with this exercise. It is also taught in many Rolf training classes.

So the question of how many Rolfers it takes to create a pair of arches is like the old question, “How many psychiatrists does it take to screw in a light bulb?” One Rolfer can create arches, but the arches really have to want to change.

Wiley Patterson

I sat in on orthopedic grand rounds this morning and the topic was posterior tibial tendon defects. Many pictures of flat feet and valgus ankles were shown. The tendons were inflamed, perhaps eroded partially, but none were severed.

Three classifications were discussed:

1. Tendon defect, with no ankle valgus.

2. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, but the foot is still supple.

3. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, rigid foot.

A fourth classification (rarer) included tibial plafond involvement.

I watched as the residents were grilled regarding the efficacies of flexor hallucis longus vs. flexor digitorum longus tendon transfers. Also, talar osteotomies and three joint fusions. I saw the beautifully straight, titanium screw-supported ankles in the post-op X-rays. Those guys really do great work.

There wasn’t a single case presented that would not have responded well to the Rolfer’s hand, that is, if their arch really wanted improvement, as per Emmett.

Dr. Rolf said, “Flat or high does not matter, as long as the arch is responsive”.[:ja]Deborah Weidhaas

You must get the navicular to lift up. Many times, I need to: 1) mobilize the cuboid (give it “wiggle room”) enough to ease its fixation from the flat foot pattern; and 2) work through the metatarsal tissues if they have gotten dense over years of use with a fallen navicular. The navicular won’t budge until metatarsals have some “wiggle room” allowing the navicular to make the change you’re asking for. If the metatarsals are particularly stubborn, I begin by “unwinding” the first and/or second metatarsal-phalangeal joint. Unwinding is my term for Jeff Maitland’s technique of: compress the joint, wait for the body to take you into the level you need (in this case, joint capsule) and then follow its dance – its unwinding.

You can also get navicular lift (and definitely a reduction of surrounding fixated fibers) by working with the foot while being bossy about putting it in inversion. In inversion, navicular normal motion is to lift up, so you use inversion as leverage to make your work more influential on the pattern. By the way, cuboid’s normal motion in inversion is to go down.

Also, one trick I came up with is to have the client sitting with feet flat on the floor. I get my fingers wedged under that navicular (work only one foot at a time) and have the client forcefully push the foot in two directions at once – down into the floor and forward (like trying to spread forward or slide forward) on the floor. I feel for muscular work happening through the whole leg and hip. It doesn’t work well when the client is only trying to do this movement from the knee down. I’ll have the client push and hold for a few seconds, then ease up. Then I re-wedge my fingers on navicular and we repeat this process a few times. My clients always feel more lifted in the foot and leg after this.

In doing the unwinding I described for toe joints, I never have my hands on the body/ tissues as lightly as Upledger teaches. I really get my hands on the thing and compress. I have well-developed pecs thanks to this work. Upledger would probably freak over the pounds of pressure (with listening of course) I put into a joint capsule before following it, and how bossy I get with my intent when the tissues have forgotten how to give, especially so for feet, hands, knees, and elbows.

James Schwartz

Releasing rotations in the legs gives me the most dramatic results in finding lift in a dropped arch…

Also – I just found some notes on foot work from Michael Salveson’s class – I pass them on as is:

“…the ankle is the only joint that makes the transition from vertical, where we live, to horizontal, where we move.

“Inversion/ eversion – takes place between talus and calcaneus and navicular and cuboid. Supination/pronation occurs mostly in cuneiforms and metatarsals. This is not a voluntary movement – it occurs in response to weight-bearing and is crucial for the foot to adapt to irregular surfaces. Orthotics mainly deal with this and with eversion. Loss in joint play has an adverse affect on large voluntary motions. Normal joint play is a prerequisite to normal voluntary motion. Joint play is an involuntary motion that is determined by the plane of the facets of the joints.

“Yoga is about putting the body in a mechanical position to work through the elastic barrier, which in normal motion is hard to affect.

“When working with fixations you have to take the bone into its (pathological) neutral where it has maximum joint play – then it starts to unwind.

“When you get fixations in the cuboid or navicular, this will cause problems in the transverse metatarsal arch. You must balance cuboid-navicular first.

“To get good motion through metatarsals you often have to pop them.

“The lateral ligaments of the foot (tibia to talus) are thinner and allow more movement – it is almost always these that sprain. The talus is the only bone in the body with no muscular attachments. The cuboid is the keystone of the lateral arch.

“The talus takes vertical force and directs it obliquely to the lateral and medial arches and back to the calcaneus. Mobilizing the talus on the calcaneus will have the most powerful effect of any joint.”

Tom Findley

In kids the control of the calcaneus contributes to the height of the arch. A shoe with a tightly-fitting heel will keep the calcaneus upright. This is the standard medical approach. Pediatric-sized heel cups are available to take up the space, as most shoes are too loose in the heel. Shoes with narrow heel and wider toes are built on a “combination . last” but are very hard to find these days except at a custom shoemaker.

But you can get similar results with rotation of the tibia in relation to the foot. Put weight on your own foot and rotate your leg in and out – note how the arch changes. If the angle of the tibia stays constant, as the foot tracks straighter ahead the arch will rise.

Emmett Hutchins

If it weren’t for the fact that I had hopelessly flat feet I probably would not be a Structural Integration practitioner today. Thirty five years ago I made my first appointment for Rolfing on the basis of a rumor which claimed that there was a woman in Pasadena, Hadijah Lamas, who could help people create arches. My father, God bless him, made me feel less than adequate as a human being because of my flat feet. No one on either side of my family had flat feet and he considered it to be somewhat of a character flaw. So I had a strong incentive to explore any system which might help me to create arches. To tell the truth, my arches did not immediately spring to life and by the time I met Dr. Rolf, three years later, I still did not have the arches I had hoped for. But you can be sure that I carefully noted everything she had to say about fallen arches during my training. Today, I do have functional arches and they serve me quite well. So let me offer you (from my original class notes) a small sample of Dr. Rolf quotes with regard to arches:

“Flat feet are not flat feet; they are flat shins, disorganization of the muscles crossing the shin. If you really know shin and retinacular anatomy, you should have no real problem with flat feet.

“Unless a bone has been traumatically moved, our work need only be on the fascia to restore function. The flattened, fallen bones never get to a place where they cannot revert back to give normal support… unless they are genetically malformed or severely damaged surgically.

“Club feet are in the spine. A child with club feet has a problem from the bottom of the spine to the occiput.

“No foot has ever broken down until the outer arch breaks down. While the outer arch is intact, the foot is intact.”

I don’t believe that I or anyone else can create arches on another person without their active participation. It was Dr. Rolf’s belief, however, that good fascial work along with diligent attention to the feet and where the weight is placed, along with the leg rotation exercises which she taught, would be sufficient for anyone to develop arches. Any of the old-time Rolf movement people are familiar with this exercise. It is also taught in many Rolf training classes.

So the question of how many Rolfers it takes to create a pair of arches is like the old question, “How many psychiatrists does it take to screw in a light bulb?” One Rolfer can create arches, but the arches really have to want to change.

Wiley Patterson

I sat in on orthopedic grand rounds this morning and the topic was posterior tibial tendon defects. Many pictures of flat feet and valgus ankles were shown. The tendons were inflamed, perhaps eroded partially, but none were severed.

Three classifications were discussed:

1. Tendon defect, with no ankle valgus.

2. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, but the foot is still supple.

3. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, rigid foot.

A fourth classification (rarer) included tibial plafond involvement.

I watched as the residents were grilled regarding the efficacies of flexor hallucis longus vs. flexor digitorum longus tendon transfers. Also, talar osteotomies and three joint fusions. I saw the beautifully straight, titanium screw-supported ankles in the post-op X-rays. Those guys really do great work.

There wasn’t a single case presented that would not have responded well to the Rolfer’s hand, that is, if their arch really wanted improvement, as per Emmett.

Dr. Rolf said, “Flat or high does not matter, as long as the arch is responsive”.[:it]Deborah Weidhaas

You must get the navicular to lift up. Many times, I need to: 1) mobilize the cuboid (give it “wiggle room”) enough to ease its fixation from the flat foot pattern; and 2) work through the metatarsal tissues if they have gotten dense over years of use with a fallen navicular. The navicular won’t budge until metatarsals have some “wiggle room” allowing the navicular to make the change you’re asking for. If the metatarsals are particularly stubborn, I begin by “unwinding” the first and/or second metatarsal-phalangeal joint. Unwinding is my term for Jeff Maitland’s technique of: compress the joint, wait for the body to take you into the level you need (in this case, joint capsule) and then follow its dance – its unwinding.

You can also get navicular lift (and definitely a reduction of surrounding fixated fibers) by working with the foot while being bossy about putting it in inversion. In inversion, navicular normal motion is to lift up, so you use inversion as leverage to make your work more influential on the pattern. By the way, cuboid’s normal motion in inversion is to go down.

Also, one trick I came up with is to have the client sitting with feet flat on the floor. I get my fingers wedged under that navicular (work only one foot at a time) and have the client forcefully push the foot in two directions at once – down into the floor and forward (like trying to spread forward or slide forward) on the floor. I feel for muscular work happening through the whole leg and hip. It doesn’t work well when the client is only trying to do this movement from the knee down. I’ll have the client push and hold for a few seconds, then ease up. Then I re-wedge my fingers on navicular and we repeat this process a few times. My clients always feel more lifted in the foot and leg after this.

In doing the unwinding I described for toe joints, I never have my hands on the body/ tissues as lightly as Upledger teaches. I really get my hands on the thing and compress. I have well-developed pecs thanks to this work. Upledger would probably freak over the pounds of pressure (with listening of course) I put into a joint capsule before following it, and how bossy I get with my intent when the tissues have forgotten how to give, especially so for feet, hands, knees, and elbows.

James Schwartz

Releasing rotations in the legs gives me the most dramatic results in finding lift in a dropped arch…

Also – I just found some notes on foot work from Michael Salveson’s class – I pass them on as is:

“…the ankle is the only joint that makes the transition from vertical, where we live, to horizontal, where we move.

“Inversion/ eversion – takes place between talus and calcaneus and navicular and cuboid. Supination/pronation occurs mostly in cuneiforms and metatarsals. This is not a voluntary movement – it occurs in response to weight-bearing and is crucial for the foot to adapt to irregular surfaces. Orthotics mainly deal with this and with eversion. Loss in joint play has an adverse affect on large voluntary motions. Normal joint play is a prerequisite to normal voluntary motion. Joint play is an involuntary motion that is determined by the plane of the facets of the joints.

“Yoga is about putting the body in a mechanical position to work through the elastic barrier, which in normal motion is hard to affect.

“When working with fixations you have to take the bone into its (pathological) neutral where it has maximum joint play – then it starts to unwind.

“When you get fixations in the cuboid or navicular, this will cause problems in the transverse metatarsal arch. You must balance cuboid-navicular first.

“To get good motion through metatarsals you often have to pop them.

“The lateral ligaments of the foot (tibia to talus) are thinner and allow more movement – it is almost always these that sprain. The talus is the only bone in the body with no muscular attachments. The cuboid is the keystone of the lateral arch.

“The talus takes vertical force and directs it obliquely to the lateral and medial arches and back to the calcaneus. Mobilizing the talus on the calcaneus will have the most powerful effect of any joint.”

Tom Findley

In kids the control of the calcaneus contributes to the height of the arch. A shoe with a tightly-fitting heel will keep the calcaneus upright. This is the standard medical approach. Pediatric-sized heel cups are available to take up the space, as most shoes are too loose in the heel. Shoes with narrow heel and wider toes are built on a “combination . last” but are very hard to find these days except at a custom shoemaker.

But you can get similar results with rotation of the tibia in relation to the foot. Put weight on your own foot and rotate your leg in and out – note how the arch changes. If the angle of the tibia stays constant, as the foot tracks straighter ahead the arch will rise.

Emmett Hutchins

If it weren’t for the fact that I had hopelessly flat feet I probably would not be a Structural Integration practitioner today. Thirty five years ago I made my first appointment for Rolfing on the basis of a rumor which claimed that there was a woman in Pasadena, Hadijah Lamas, who could help people create arches. My father, God bless him, made me feel less than adequate as a human being because of my flat feet. No one on either side of my family had flat feet and he considered it to be somewhat of a character flaw. So I had a strong incentive to explore any system which might help me to create arches. To tell the truth, my arches did not immediately spring to life and by the time I met Dr. Rolf, three years later, I still did not have the arches I had hoped for. But you can be sure that I carefully noted everything she had to say about fallen arches during my training. Today, I do have functional arches and they serve me quite well. So let me offer you (from my original class notes) a small sample of Dr. Rolf quotes with regard to arches:

“Flat feet are not flat feet; they are flat shins, disorganization of the muscles crossing the shin. If you really know shin and retinacular anatomy, you should have no real problem with flat feet.

“Unless a bone has been traumatically moved, our work need only be on the fascia to restore function. The flattened, fallen bones never get to a place where they cannot revert back to give normal support… unless they are genetically malformed or severely damaged surgically.

“Club feet are in the spine. A child with club feet has a problem from the bottom of the spine to the occiput.

“No foot has ever broken down until the outer arch breaks down. While the outer arch is intact, the foot is intact.”

I don’t believe that I or anyone else can create arches on another person without their active participation. It was Dr. Rolf’s belief, however, that good fascial work along with diligent attention to the feet and where the weight is placed, along with the leg rotation exercises which she taught, would be sufficient for anyone to develop arches. Any of the old-time Rolf movement people are familiar with this exercise. It is also taught in many Rolf training classes.

So the question of how many Rolfers it takes to create a pair of arches is like the old question, “How many psychiatrists does it take to screw in a light bulb?” One Rolfer can create arches, but the arches really have to want to change.

Wiley Patterson

I sat in on orthopedic grand rounds this morning and the topic was posterior tibial tendon defects. Many pictures of flat feet and valgus ankles were shown. The tendons were inflamed, perhaps eroded partially, but none were severed.

Three classifications were discussed:

1. Tendon defect, with no ankle valgus.

2. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, but the foot is still supple.

3. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, rigid foot.

A fourth classification (rarer) included tibial plafond involvement.

I watched as the residents were grilled regarding the efficacies of flexor hallucis longus vs. flexor digitorum longus tendon transfers. Also, talar osteotomies and three joint fusions. I saw the beautifully straight, titanium screw-supported ankles in the post-op X-rays. Those guys really do great work.

There wasn’t a single case presented that would not have responded well to the Rolfer’s hand, that is, if their arch really wanted improvement, as per Emmett.

Dr. Rolf said, “Flat or high does not matter, as long as the arch is responsive”.[:pb]Deborah Weidhaas

You must get the navicular to lift up. Many times, I need to: 1) mobilize the cuboid (give it “wiggle room”) enough to ease its fixation from the flat foot pattern; and 2) work through the metatarsal tissues if they have gotten dense over years of use with a fallen navicular. The navicular won’t budge until metatarsals have some “wiggle room” allowing the navicular to make the change you’re asking for. If the metatarsals are particularly stubborn, I begin by “unwinding” the first and/or second metatarsal-phalangeal joint. Unwinding is my term for Jeff Maitland’s technique of: compress the joint, wait for the body to take you into the level you need (in this case, joint capsule) and then follow its dance – its unwinding.

You can also get navicular lift (and definitely a reduction of surrounding fixated fibers) by working with the foot while being bossy about putting it in inversion. In inversion, navicular normal motion is to lift up, so you use inversion as leverage to make your work more influential on the pattern. By the way, cuboid’s normal motion in inversion is to go down.

Also, one trick I came up with is to have the client sitting with feet flat on the floor. I get my fingers wedged under that navicular (work only one foot at a time) and have the client forcefully push the foot in two directions at once – down into the floor and forward (like trying to spread forward or slide forward) on the floor. I feel for muscular work happening through the whole leg and hip. It doesn’t work well when the client is only trying to do this movement from the knee down. I’ll have the client push and hold for a few seconds, then ease up. Then I re-wedge my fingers on navicular and we repeat this process a few times. My clients always feel more lifted in the foot and leg after this.

In doing the unwinding I described for toe joints, I never have my hands on the body/ tissues as lightly as Upledger teaches. I really get my hands on the thing and compress. I have well-developed pecs thanks to this work. Upledger would probably freak over the pounds of pressure (with listening of course) I put into a joint capsule before following it, and how bossy I get with my intent when the tissues have forgotten how to give, especially so for feet, hands, knees, and elbows.

James Schwartz

Releasing rotations in the legs gives me the most dramatic results in finding lift in a dropped arch…

Also – I just found some notes on foot work from Michael Salveson’s class – I pass them on as is:

“…the ankle is the only joint that makes the transition from vertical, where we live, to horizontal, where we move.

“Inversion/ eversion – takes place between talus and calcaneus and navicular and cuboid. Supination/pronation occurs mostly in cuneiforms and metatarsals. This is not a voluntary movement – it occurs in response to weight-bearing and is crucial for the foot to adapt to irregular surfaces. Orthotics mainly deal with this and with eversion. Loss in joint play has an adverse affect on large voluntary motions. Normal joint play is a prerequisite to normal voluntary motion. Joint play is an involuntary motion that is determined by the plane of the facets of the joints.

“Yoga is about putting the body in a mechanical position to work through the elastic barrier, which in normal motion is hard to affect.

“When working with fixations you have to take the bone into its (pathological) neutral where it has maximum joint play – then it starts to unwind.

“When you get fixations in the cuboid or navicular, this will cause problems in the transverse metatarsal arch. You must balance cuboid-navicular first.

“To get good motion through metatarsals you often have to pop them.

“The lateral ligaments of the foot (tibia to talus) are thinner and allow more movement – it is almost always these that sprain. The talus is the only bone in the body with no muscular attachments. The cuboid is the keystone of the lateral arch.

“The talus takes vertical force and directs it obliquely to the lateral and medial arches and back to the calcaneus. Mobilizing the talus on the calcaneus will have the most powerful effect of any joint.”

Tom Findley

In kids the control of the calcaneus contributes to the height of the arch. A shoe with a tightly-fitting heel will keep the calcaneus upright. This is the standard medical approach. Pediatric-sized heel cups are available to take up the space, as most shoes are too loose in the heel. Shoes with narrow heel and wider toes are built on a “combination . last” but are very hard to find these days except at a custom shoemaker.

But you can get similar results with rotation of the tibia in relation to the foot. Put weight on your own foot and rotate your leg in and out – note how the arch changes. If the angle of the tibia stays constant, as the foot tracks straighter ahead the arch will rise.

Emmett Hutchins

If it weren’t for the fact that I had hopelessly flat feet I probably would not be a Structural Integration practitioner today. Thirty five years ago I made my first appointment for Rolfing on the basis of a rumor which claimed that there was a woman in Pasadena, Hadijah Lamas, who could help people create arches. My father, God bless him, made me feel less than adequate as a human being because of my flat feet. No one on either side of my family had flat feet and he considered it to be somewhat of a character flaw. So I had a strong incentive to explore any system which might help me to create arches. To tell the truth, my arches did not immediately spring to life and by the time I met Dr. Rolf, three years later, I still did not have the arches I had hoped for. But you can be sure that I carefully noted everything she had to say about fallen arches during my training. Today, I do have functional arches and they serve me quite well. So let me offer you (from my original class notes) a small sample of Dr. Rolf quotes with regard to arches:

“Flat feet are not flat feet; they are flat shins, disorganization of the muscles crossing the shin. If you really know shin and retinacular anatomy, you should have no real problem with flat feet.

“Unless a bone has been traumatically moved, our work need only be on the fascia to restore function. The flattened, fallen bones never get to a place where they cannot revert back to give normal support… unless they are genetically malformed or severely damaged surgically.

“Club feet are in the spine. A child with club feet has a problem from the bottom of the spine to the occiput.

“No foot has ever broken down until the outer arch breaks down. While the outer arch is intact, the foot is intact.”

I don’t believe that I or anyone else can create arches on another person without their active participation. It was Dr. Rolf’s belief, however, that good fascial work along with diligent attention to the feet and where the weight is placed, along with the leg rotation exercises which she taught, would be sufficient for anyone to develop arches. Any of the old-time Rolf movement people are familiar with this exercise. It is also taught in many Rolf training classes.

So the question of how many Rolfers it takes to create a pair of arches is like the old question, “How many psychiatrists does it take to screw in a light bulb?” One Rolfer can create arches, but the arches really have to want to change.

Wiley Patterson

I sat in on orthopedic grand rounds this morning and the topic was posterior tibial tendon defects. Many pictures of flat feet and valgus ankles were shown. The tendons were inflamed, perhaps eroded partially, but none were severed.

Three classifications were discussed:

1. Tendon defect, with no ankle valgus.

2. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, but the foot is still supple.

3. Tendon defect, ankle valgus, rigid foot.

A fourth classification (rarer) included tibial plafond involvement.

I watched as the residents were grilled regarding the efficacies of flexor hallucis longus vs. flexor digitorum longus tendon transfers. Also, talar osteotomies and three joint fusions. I saw the beautifully straight, titanium screw-supported ankles in the post-op X-rays. Those guys really do great work.

There wasn’t a single case presented that would not have responded well to the Rolfer’s hand, that is, if their arch really wanted improvement, as per Emmett.

Dr. Rolf said, “Flat or high does not matter, as long as the arch is responsive”.[:]Flat Feet