#digitorum

We have long been promoting appropriate function of the long extensors of the toes  here, in our practices, our lectures, on Youtube, in our book......You get the idea. Lets tale a closer look at this often weakened and overlooked muscle.

We remember that the EDL lies mostly in the superior and somewhat lateral part of the anterior compartment of the lower leg, comprising approximately the upper 2/3 from under the lateral tibial plateau and fibula, and from the interosseus membrane. It lies under the tibialis anterior, and the extensor hallucis longus lies below it. Its tendons pass inferiorly and travel under the extensor retinaculum and attaches to the base of the distal phalanges of toes 2-4. These muscles act from initial contact to loading response to help eccentrically lower the foot to the ground and ensure smooth heel rocker and most likely attenuate the speed of initial pronation as the talus glides anteriorly on the calcaneal facets and again from terminal stance through initial swing to provide compression of the metatarsal phalangeal and interphalangeal joints, to offset the long flexors (which are often overactive) and create clearance for the toes during swing.  

What does it look like when the long extensors don’t work so well? Have a look at the pedograph on the right (pair J howard r). what do we see? First we notice the lack of printing under the head of the 1st metatarsal and increased printing of the second metatrsal head. Looks like this individual has a forefoot supinatus, or possibly a forefoot varus (cannot get the head of the 1st metatarsal to the ground, and thus a weak medial tripod, possibly insufficient extensor hallucis brevis, peroneus longus, flexor digitorum brevis, or all of the above). Next we see increased printing of the distal phalanges of digits 2-4. Looks like the long flexors are dominant, which means the long extensors are inhibited. What about the lack of printing of the 5th toe? I thought the flexors were overactive? They are, but due to the supinatus, the foot is tipped to the inside and the 5th barely contacts the ground!

How do you fix this?

Help make a better foot tripod using the toe wave, tripod standing and extensor hallucis brevis exercises.

Make sure the articulations are mobile with joint mobilization, manipulation and massage.

How about dry needling and acupuncture to improve function?

Make sure the knee and hip are functioning appropriately.

Put them in footwear that will allow the foot to function better (a less rigid, less ramp delta shoe).

These days, concert halls are alive with more than the sounds of music. 

Visuals at concerts, big and small, have become as ubiquitous as oboes in Bach concertos.

Even purists don’t see this evolution of the concert experience as necessarily a bad thing.

And really, it’s nothing new.

Images have been married with music since the beginning.  Visual appeal popped up in importance in the 70s, not long after the Beatles played Shea Stadium but no one without binoculars could actually see them.  MTV followed and the beat marches on.

Now, eye-popping visuals are expected with music to the ears – from 50-ton video screens with a half-million pixels for rock concerts to images projected on historic buildings.

So it was on two August evenings when 35,000 turned out to see a Cincinnati Symphony free outdoor concert in Washington Park. To celebrate the arrival of Louis Langrée as its new music director, the event turned the Venetian Gothic façade of Music Hall into a giant canvas with a choreographed display of 3D laser art.

What a moment it was, for music, for visual art and for Greater Cincinnati in general. We expect to see more and Lumenocity set the bar visuals-with-music bar pretty high.

But bigger is not always brighter and better.

And right here in the river cities, we may have the best visual venue ever at Northern Kentucky University. Its highest-of-tech Digitorum at Griffin Hall will host a high-energy multimedia concert Oct. 15 with Missy Mazzoli, a much-heralded New York-based composer of chamber, orchestral and operatic works.

Information and tickets.

Don't blink for a second at this one. Expect every one of the 285 micro-tiles on the Digitorum’s ultra-tech screens packed with "wildly inventive music that constantly surprises with the direction it takes," as Express Magazine’s Ray Cooklis described Missy. The New York Times called her "One of the more consistently inventive, surprising composers now working in New York” and an artist “going places fast. Bank on it.”

Now you can bank seeing Missy Mazzoli up close and personal as she is coming to Constella Festival 2013 as its composer-in-residence,

Missy will be just one of the highlights of the innovative programming and stunning roster of international soloists that will be presented during Constella Festival 3. Constella helps to draw attention to the broad palette of professional chamber music and other arts organizations that enrich Cincinnati’s cultural landscape.

This year’s festival, running from October 1 to November 7, includes the return of violin superstar Joshua Bell and first-ever Constella Festival appearance by the Grammy Award-winning conductor Paavo Järvi.

Constella will present 20 concerts at 15 Cincinnati venues including world-premiere music and dance works, children’s concerts, workshops, and master classes. Most Constella-produced events will feature art exhibitions and collaborations by prominent Cincinnati artists and art galleries, including the Cincinnati Art Museum, Carl Solway Gallery and Brazee Street Studios.

For more information, event calendar and ticket information, please go to www.constellafestival.org

Thanks…and see you at the festival!

On Wednesday, October 16 at 7:30 p.m. Missy will perform at the Café MoMus new music series in the Patricia Corbett Theater at the University of Cincinnati’ Conservatory of Music’s Corbett Theater. The Constella partner event will be free with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. No advance ticketing is required.