I first came across this in a blog post proposed by the physical therapist, Sean Gibbons (which does not explain it very well).
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The foot guard tendon reflex:
This is a normal reflex (opposite to Babinski): when there is a stimulus from stroking from the plantar first metatarsal head posteriorly along the medial arch towards the heel --> the medial column of the foot dorsiflexes when this reflex is normal. The reflex is generally active from birth until around 2 years of age.
Stimulation of this reflex when learning to walk would tend to offload the medial column of the foot and load the lateral column, assisting with postural stability. Sometimes the primitive reflexes persist to become what is known as unintegrated reflexes.
HOWEVER: the whole 'retention of primitive reflexes'/'unintegrated reflexes' is a bit of an alternative popular fad with limited evidence supporting it, so any link to functional hallux limitus will have to be on that shaky ground
Relationship to FnHL:
If the foot guard tendon reflex does not integrate and continues to exist, then there is assumed to be a tendency for the load to be more on the lateral the lateral column of the foot more as stimulation of the medial column from the ground initiates the reflex. This also tends to be the weight-bearing pattern seen in functional hallux limitus.
The 'reflex' initiated dorsiflexion (or inhibition of plantarflexion) of the first ray (medial column) would limit first metatarsophalangeal joint dorsiflexion, theoretically producing a functional hallux limitus.
What say you?
Always willing to learn...not totally convinced; willing to keep an open mind
- there is no evidence to support this (mainly as no one has done any research on it!)
- it is possibly a plausible alternative explanation for the phenomenon of functional hallux limitus
- when you look at the exercises advocated for the integration of this reflex, they are not too dissimilar to the manipulation that is advocated by some for functional hallux limitus.
- does the manipulation work because it integrates the foot tendon guard reflex?
- does the above hypothesis work because the exercises to integrate the reflex are really a 'manipulation' for FnHL?
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