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 Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons The baseball world is abuzz over the recent diagnosis of Mike Trout’s back injury. According to renowned spine surgeon Dr. Robert Watkins, Trout has a rare back condition known as a costovertebral dysfunction. This condition produces pain, inflammation and an inability to perform.
While Dr. Watkins may be a world-renowned spine surgeon, this “Non-Surgical” case should be examined by someone who’s capable of diagnosing and treating without surgery. In addition, this diagnosis is merely a descriptive diagnosis of the localized injury, but a far incompetent diagnosis for Trout’s actual injury. In other words, Dr. Watkins isn’t the correct person to have the final say. Structural Fingerprint® Plus Banana Peels Equals Injuries Every human has a unique biomechanical make-up they are born with. When combined with their “banana peels of life”, all the slips, falls, repetitive activity and traumas, at some point, somewhere on the body becomes over-loaded. Pain and inflammation will appear. The likelihood of Mike Trout ever having a biomechanical exam to detect his Structural Fingerprint® is probably quite low. The fact that I own BiomechanicalAnalytics.com and I own OrthopedicAnalytics.com would suggest that biomechanical evaluations are not readily available in pro locker rooms. Unfortunately, the diagnosis is given as though it was in Mike Trout’s DNA, like multiple sclerosis or cancer, and it was inevitable he was going to get this. Nothing could be further from the truth. As we showed in our research study of 351 random people (DrTimMaggs.com), every human has one of 5 distorted biomechanical structures. This is before they ever take the field or weight room. Now, combine this with the repetitive activity and stresses that Trout has put his body through in his lifetime, and at some point there will be an area of distress. Like all athletes, I’m sure he’s had many. But now, it happens to be more severe and it happens to be at the rib/spine junction at T5. This problem is not just a localized problem. This problem originates in his feet. As demonstrated in one of our later research studies, every human has some degree of collapse in their feet that produces a domino-like effect up their structure. We also showed that 62% of the population have one femoral head at least 3mm higher than the other when standing and barefoot. Unless these imbalances are detected and corrected, it’s just a matter of time before injuries like Trout’s rear there ugly head. “It’s probably going to last his entire career”, Los Angeles Angel’s head trainer Mike Frostad said. He feels Trout will need to manage it for the rest of his life. Although that is a correct statement for every human, as we all have biomechanical faults and imbalances that should have lifetime management, it’s unfortunate for Mike that he doesn’t know how to correct this condition to it’s highest level. He’s just received a steroid injection, which is a high concentration of anti-inflammatory medication. This may help temporarily, but without structural correction, he will need something for the rest of his life if his goal is to continue playing baseball. This scenario is a microscopic reflection of our opioid crisis. Opioids have been a treatment for back pain over the past couple of decades. While very helpful symptomatically, it is necessary to continue increasing the dosage to get the same symptomatic benefits, and at some point, the dosage is fatal. Mike will have to balance playing and these artificial treatments for the rest of his career. It’s unfortunate that these pro athletes are unaware of their biomechanical faults and will therefore never reach the level of correction that is possible. These underlying faults cost the sports world, from owners to players to fans, billions and billions of dollars each year. Think of the Golden State Warriors leading in the NBA finals and ultimately losing due to the injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. These injuries were caused by the same scenario as Mike Trout’s injury. As I state clearly on my website, the wrong Drs. are in charge. Optimal Approach In the optimal world, Mike would go through a Structural Fingerprint® Exam, learn which of the 5 Crooked Men he is, make appropriate corrections and then begin a series of treatments to fix the “costovertebral dysfunction”. He should not only have standing x-rays, but also an MRI of the area of involvement to rule out disc injury, foraminal stenosis and bone marrow edema. We would fit him with CPOYA orthotics and begin him on a series of regular treatments consisting of cervical/thoracic spinal decompression, cold laser therapy and chiropractic adjustments of the ribs and spine. This anti-inflammatory and corrective approach would be done for one month with the expectation of significantly reduced symptoms. Depending on the degree of injury, the length of correction could vary. However, the human body is a healing machine, and when more good than bad is done, the body will heal. We wish Mike and all other chronically injured athletes good luck, but being realists, we know their stories are far from over.
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 If you’ve ever watched people walking while sitting at an airport, you’re amazed at the diversity of motion. Some limping, some bent forward, some tipping to one side, some taking baby steps, and every now and then, someone looks normal. Many have braces, some have canes, but everyone is totally unique.
Walking is a combination of movements that allows a person to propel themselves forward. In order to do that, one has to recruit many body parts to act in unison for any success at all. Today’s biomechanics specialists, running store workers and therapists attempt to do gait analysis to determine what’s not working correctly. Weak “this” and overworking “that” is usually the conclusion. Work on your flexibility and strengthen certain muscles is usually the recommendation. Unfortunately, all of these recommendations are insignificant at best and outright wrong at worst. Let me explain. When a gait analysis is done, the evaluation of an individual in motion, generally walking or running and evaluated from behind, the assumption is that all people are symmetrical. Left and right are perfectly balanced. Nothing could be further from the truth. No one is symmetrical. Research has shown all people have mild to severe asymmetries in their musculoskeletal systems, abnormalities that no one in our healthcare system ever looks for using the appropriate technology. So, with these asymmetries (mild to severe), gait analyses are still done in an effort to identify imbalances and reduce injuries. Unfortunately, they fail hugely in their effort because they don’t identify the true asymmetry(s). The conclusions that are drawn on gait analyses are actually the results of the adaptation of the musculoskeletal system to the underlying biomechanical faults that no one has ever found. Some muscles restrict more compared to their counterparts due to the imbalance in weight distribution and I describe gait analyses as a bag of biomechanical sins in motion. It is totally impossible to draw meaningful conclusions if a gait analysis is done prior to having a Structural Fingerprint® Exam performed and making corrections to these imbalances. Therefore, without a static biomechanical exam (and The Structural Fingerprint® Exam is the only one available today), it is impossible to assess gait imbalances. And static biomechanical evaluations are the only way to truly identify these imbalances. Want to learn to administer my Structural Fingerprint® Exam? Check out my Structural Management® Certification Program.  The word Analytics is the most economically valuable word in sports today. The New York Mets have 14 people on their payroll with the word analytics in their job title. With the average Major League Baseball salary at $4.41 Million Dollars this year, you would think the most important “Analytics” category would be biomechanical. If not biomechanical, then maybe Orthopedic Analytics. One of the two should be on top. But it’s not. If it was at the top of their list, the domain names biomechanicalanalytics.com or orthopedicanalytics.com would not have been available when I did my search. The phrase Biomechanical Analytics would not have been available to trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office when I applied for it. And, when you google Biomechanical Analytics, you would never think you’d find……..me. What you’ll find is…………  Why is it that I’m at the top of this topic when there is so much money in the field of sports analytics? It’s because the entire industry is unaware of the fact that every human is Crooked Man.  We’ve done the research and we have the data, and we’ve proven that every human being is blessed (or cursed) with biomechanical imbalances, or asymmetries. It all starts with the feet, then the alignment of the knees, then leg length, then centers of gravity of the pelvis, and on and on from there. The technology is available today to learn each person’s (athlete’s) biomechanical faults, but that’s not what the 14 jobs with the New York Mets do. That’s not what the orthopedic or physical therapy departments do. Their jobs are primarily reactive once a player is hurt. In 2017, I had a unique experience with a high school soccer player. We scanned his feet, put him in orthotics, and over the next 8 months he developed a stress fracture in the front pelvic crest. His pain worsened over that time and we took an x-ray to see why he was complaining. Not only did he have a stress fracture, but his femoral head height difference (height of his hips) worsened with orthotics in his shoes. No one had ever suggested this was a possibility. Over the next 4 years, I collected data on 351 patients and published the results in a medical peer reviewed journal. In short, we learned not only that every human has biomechanical imbalances, but there are 5 distinct biomechanically flawed patterns, and every human is one of the 5.  The Maggs’ Leg Length Test™ will tell which pattern a person is, and proactive measures can then be taken to improve the balance, alignment and weight distribution, prior to the player ever taking the field, court or entering the weight room.
In conclusion, I believe I deserve the top spot when googling Biomechanical Analytics, I just think those spending millions and billions should want to be there. Want to learn more about how to identify and treat each "Crooked Man" type? Check out my Structural Management® Certification Program.  Our musculoskeletal and sports medicine specialists are trained to use the medical model of care. They “react” to injuries. This requires little “biomechanical” knowledge. They know anatomy, injury diagnosis, pharmaceuticals, surgery, and localized therapy. What they don’t know is static structural biomechanics. The human being is an architectural structure, with or without injury and should be looked at from that perspective to prevent injuries. Our specialists of today are not trained to physically examine an uninjured athlete and identify predictable underlying future injuries.
The current definition of the word “biomechanics” is the study of a human being in motion. This sounds romantic and wonderful, but the irony is, no human being is symmetrical, therefore, motion will be nothing more than a moving bag of biomechanical imbalances. It would be virtually impossible to accurately determine what the underlying imbalances are with this analysis. For optimal understanding of a human’s architecture, a static examination must occur first to determine the structural asymmetries before motion can become part of the analysis. Collapse of the arches of the feet, alignment of the knees, leg length, femoral head height and centers of gravity are but a few of the measurements that should be done. Body weight distribution, left vs. right, is another. Research has shown that 99.5% of all people have moderate to severe pronation of the feet. 68% have asymmetrical collapse of the arches of the feet. When examined while standing barefoot, 64% of people have >3mm difference in femoral head height (hip height). 42% are >5mm. With these imbalances, the science of biomechanics would improve if it was the study of the static human structure, and the current definition of biomechanics, which includes motion, would be better served to be called “motion biomechanics”. Finally, this gait, or motion analysis should only be considered once the static biomechanics are examined and improved to the highest level. This can be accomplished by undergoing a Structural Fingerprint® Exam, the leading biomechanical exam available today. Click here to learn how to perform the Structural Fingerprint® Exam. I'm comfortably sitting in an Air BnB in beautiful Lake Placid with my wonderful wife on this gorgeous, serene snowy morning. A slice of heaven.
As enjoyable as it is, I can't leave it all behind. So, while looking at email yesterday and today, I tend to keep updated on the ACA blog site. They send me emails daily, most likely due to the fact that I am a member. Yesterday, someone challenged everyone to vote for the "best" chiropractor. Not the one making the most money, not a public speaker or most popular, but the one who gets people better the quickest. And this morning the first vote came in. From Dr. Simone of Florida. Interestingly enough, he voted for himself. Which I liked because he did it with certainty. He really likes himself and his numbers and may actually be the "best" chiropractor. At least according to the criteria of the challenge. Who gets someone better for the least amount of money? Who discharges the quickest? And, who shows they care in the midst of it all? Well, at 3.7 visits, charging for nothing else and giving exercises and cell phone number, I would say it's easily Dr. Simone. Dr. Simone proudly states that these are the criteria of an evidence based practice. My only question is, is this the criteria that will ultimately fix the musculoskeletal crisis? I think not. Imagine the cancer industry using the quickest, cheapest and friendliest as the criteria for who's the best cancer doc. Comical. Congrats to Dr. Simone, but his operating system is thoroughly inadequate to fix this crisis. We need advanced technology, better trained chiropractors and an understanding that people need to do a whole lot more musculoskeletally in their lifetimes if joint replacement surgeries, opioid deaths and a reduced quality of life are to be improved. There's a lot of work ahead, and I'll concede this trophy to Dr. Simone, but I don't want him leading our profession into the future. Have a great day. Just starting our Monday morning in the office, coming off 3 days in Boston. Dinner Thursday night at a great Italian restaurant, 4 hours Friday morning with Dawn Galbraith and about 20 great docs, then 8 hours Saturday with another group of wonderful chiropractors.
These gatherings are invigorating because we talk about the future of our role in health care and musculoskeletal, and I show beyond a doubt that chiropractors CAN become the super specialist if they're willing to introduce the latest technology into their practices and begin looking at the patient more proactively than reactively. We introduced the 5 Crooked Men, that everyone is a reflection of one of them, and how to detect which one a person is and what to do when you identify it. So, one person at a time, we're changing the world for the better. Thanks to all who participated and I'm excited at the thought of how many more people will be helped because all of these docs took time out this past weekend to join us. We are very excited with our Structural Management Certification Program, all of which is designed around the Structural Fingerprint Exam. When a chiropractor signs up for our Program, they will also be invited to a one day hands-on experience at my office in Schenectady, New York (at no cost). This visit will help each attendee to become totally proficient in performing the exam, the interpretation of findings, how to communicate these findings to the patient, and how to fix them. Remember, this exam is the only biomechanical exam available in the country today.
Sounds simple, and actually is, but is hugely powerful in the marketplace. Powerful because it's based on the use of the most advanced diagnostic technology available today. While all other providers are applying different treatments from pills, to rest, to physical therapy, to chiropractic adjustments, (without actually knowing the cause of their problem) you and I will be providing lifetime information and creating the ability to be much more accurate and successful with our recommendations. It will be based on the underlying cause and the patient's needs, not what the provider is good at or gets paid for. The exam tells you where the patient's been and where they're heading. In addition, when a Dr. becomes certified, Foot Levelers will also provide to them a complimentary pair of full CPOYA orthotics. My vision is, this group will become the Super Specialists in musculoskeletal care and will become the solution the world has been looking for forever. Please join me.  On this final day of 2018, we enter the New Year with more vital information. First of all, we are a week or so away from the launch of our exciting Structural Management Certification Program. We had hoped to have it ready by January 1st, but the volume of information plus the technology in making it all available requires a little bit more time. We're looking between January 7th and January 15th.
Secondly, we've identified our young Kenyan runner who will run for Team CPOYA at the 2019 Boston Marathon. His name is NJOROGE ELIUD KARIUKI and he has run just over 1:00 for the half marathon. This should be a very exciting event for all those involved in the CPOYA mission. We will also be unveiling our newest Team CPOYA logo within the next few days. So, a huge thanks to all who have been a part of this mission, and a huge invitation and thanks to all those who will become a part of this mission. Our biggest days lie ahead. Happy New Year, and may 2019 bring you much health, happiness and success. As we leave 2018 and begin the new year, there's always a strong desire to check the score of the prior year and the hopes and dreams of the coming year.
2018 was a positive year in many ways. Professionally, I think some of us made a positive difference in the direction chiropractic is going. And when I say chiropractic, I really mean the field of musculoskeletal care. So many in our profession are mis-guided with their core beliefs as to what chiropractic is and how we best care for the public. Simply put, the medical model of care is the cause of our crisis, and the Structural Management biomechanical model of care is the cure. But, we've got a good fight ahead of us. I've tried to plant seeds of high quality projects that will show the public the logic behind the biomechanical approach, the cost savings, the quality of life enhancers and the model that fits the full scope of chiropractic best. The new year. Lot's of excitement. A great mission. A solid game plan. And a desire to change the system. What could be more exciting? |
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