ABSTRACT

This chapter gives a brief introduction to the roles of fascial tissues during repeated rhythmical movements experienced during gait. It focuses on the issues surrounding older people, but the implications equally apply to the rest of the population. The chapter blends findings from literature on walking issues for the elderly with myofascial mechanics to search for novel interventions that may alleviate some of the issues through treatment and prevention. A simple experiment of walking with a restriction in any one of the named joints will reaffirm the important interrelationships through the body-we must be able to couple each of those joint extensions simultaneously to maximize the efficiencies provided by the fascial system. Issues that may affect the efficiency, timing, or aim of the trigger and catapult mechanism of toe-off should be investigated in patients presenting with low back and hip soft tissue dysfunction and with walking impairments of almost any nature.