Introduction To The Midfoot

The midfoot is an integral part of the human foot. It helps maintain balance by adapting to different surfaces and terrain. It also plays a key role in allowing the foot to pronate, supinate, dorsiflex, plantarflex, invert, and evert.

Often times, the midfoot can cause dysfunction elsewhere in the foot or up the kinetic chain. In this post I’ll disclose the anatomy, biomechanics, table and functional assessments, and concluding with treatment.

The Anatomy Of The Midfoot

The midfoot consists of the….navicular, cuboid, and the medial, intermediate, and lateral cuniforms.

Muscularly, you have the peroneus longus, posterior tibialis, anterior tibialis and some of the foot intrinsic muscles attaching on the dorsum and plantar parts of the foot.

What makes this part of the foot unique is it’s axises. It has two of them which allows the foot to move and compenate in an array of patterns or positions. Don’t forget this…. ever.

If you read my original post on the subtalar joint, you learned that the midfoot is dependent on the STJ for the most part. To access this information you can do so by clicking here.

To learn more about the axis’s watch this quick video below.

My photo in the background wasn’t working as well so I have also included another video below mine which may make more sense to you…

 

 

Assessing & Treating The Midfoot

Watch these two quick videos on how I assess the midfoot. The Gray Institute taught me alot of the functional stuff but the rest I learned from Kaltenborn and his work.

 

 

 

 

 

Another Treatment…

 

 

 

Final Thoughts On The Midfoot

Assessing and treating the midfoot should be an integral part of a clinician’s examination process. If you do follow the tests and treatment above you will help many of your patients.

 

What are some ways that you assess and treat the midfoot?