Last week, I attended a cadaver on the hip (mainly). During the cadaver, I also got to observe the foot and ankle. Looking at the physiology was so different from what you see in the “books”.
The lower limb, calf, and foot complex was mainly white as it is predominantly tendon. This is where everything I have been lucky to learn from the lecturers at the University of Salford has helped improve me as a practitioner.
Learning about the biomechanics of tendons and how they respond to load (both high forces and/or speeds) changed my assessment from single-leg balances to strength, ballistic and plyometric abilities. How people execute these activities has way more relevance to sporting performance and also physical robustness.
The inability to hop on one leg is related to tendon stiffness. Tendon stiffness is not achieved by single-leg balance exercises that improve pronation and supination of the foot. Not enough demand is placed on the tendons to elicit a meaningful adaptation to the tissue that will help people increase their sporting performance in both a measurable and observable way. I have seen many a “flat foot” that can produce stupidly good reactive jump scores.
The ability to deal with higher impacts matters. If you can overcome the forces imposed on the body, you are less likely to get hurt.
Therefore, developing your coach’s eye to see shorter ground contact times is way more important than being able to observe pronation and supination. The coach’s eye has beauty and power, and it doesn’t have to be complex.
Does that person hop and jump quickly, explosively and fluidly, or does it look and sound heavy and flat?
For anyone interested in learning about tendons, plyometrics, and ballistics, please look at John McMahon’s research.
Thank you to Paul Comfort, Nick Ripley, John McMahon, and Paul Jones for answering my questions and helping me to develop continually.
The journey continues.
RESOURCES AND NEXT STEPS
If you’re looking for more support and guidance, here are some valuable resources: