"Freeing the fibula" could be a sound bite to justify military
intervention...gotta be careful what we're promoting.

I have believed that the conventional Medical prejudice for manual therapies
is because it is so difficult to write in words and books what we do....We
really need to feel it learn it. Even in the Hippocrates writings there are
references, with disdain and disrespect to the "bonesetters" in the villages.
That may be Ida's and Tom's biggest gifts; the ability to put into words what we
do with our hands. Not easy.

Nevertheless, here is my attempt at a joint mobilization technique for the
fibula.

This fixation is common among yoga people and soccer players in my world.
And the fixation can occur at either end of the fibula. It may occur as
non-specific knee pain or ankle pain.
In the same diagnostic position as Tom describes; client prone, foot flat,
knee bent. Initiate some movement A to P of the fibula head.....not much...1/16
inch maybe each way. If it is stuck it will feel stuck and the client will
report some pain in the anterior push. A posterior push will hit the peroneal
nerve. Don't worry about pain either way. The fixation is obvious. If found
to be fixed:

With the person in a supine position with their feet flat and knees bent,
Practitioner standing next to the right leg, approximately even with the knee,
facing the clients head. Practitioner grasps the clients right tibia-fibula
with left hand wrapped around the top of the tibia-fibula with the pointer
finger
knuckle of the left hand snug up against the proximal head of the fibula. The
Practitioners fingers will be wrapped around the posterior of the calf
muscles, snugged all the way up to the joint. Practitioner then uses their left
hand to grasp the ankle and flex the hip, part way and knee completely. When
the
end play is reached with the flexed knee a very short 1/8 " move will cause
the left hand knuckle to engage with the head of the fibula and a slight sound
may be heard..much like gently cracking ones knuckles. This will mobilize a
fixed fibula head and will still require all the soft tissue work that Tom
described.

There is another way to mobilize the talur-fibula joint by holding the
calcaneous in between the practitioners knees and initiating the movement
downward
onto the tibia in a gentle but forceful fashion.
See, it's almost impossible to safely describe all this in a way to have it
work for someone who has not experienced it

I recommend practicing with another Practitioner that you are friends with.
As the learning curve progresses it is important to allow for one Practitioner
to "get even" with the other.

Good challenging topic...delightfully time consuming........

Happy New Year..

Jim Dohn


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