Monitoring Metabolism With Your Ankle

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Dan W

Dan W

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Thanks, @bcopeland, that's good to know. I assume many of those would mess up the activation of the reflex more than the relaxation rate?

Excellent, excellent video, Dan Wich! I was finally able to do the test after reading about it through Ray so many years ago.
Glad it helped, I could tell I wasn't the only one that was pretty fuzzy on how to do it.
 

vulture

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Testing the Achilles tendon relaxation to gauge metabolism is something Peat has mentioned a lot. But I think it's faded as a diagnostic tool in the traditional medical world: this Canadian Medical Association Journal article claims that it's "likely to become obsolete as a diagnostic tool", and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists recommendations say it "should not be used...to diagnose hypothyroidism."

Why the difference in opinion? I think it's because the medical world now has easy access to seemingly-objective blood tests. In contrast, Peat's perspective is concerned with how tissue is actually *functioning* metabolically. Also, the ankle reflex is probably the most useful to people who will test it frequently, perceive->think->act style. Contrast that with the traditional medical approach where a fairly-inflexible diagnosis needs to be established in a visit or two, often with a patient that will be passive about the treatment.

So testing the reflex seems like something that'd be right up my alley, but I rarely bothered to check mine because it was hard to know what to look for. But I finally buckled down and read all the studies I could find, tried it on friends and family, and made a video to help explain it:


Here's a GIF if you'd just like to compare your reflex without listening to my yammerin':
ankle.gif


If you'd like to read more studies on the phenomenon, there's some in my video references, and a big ol' list at Functional Performance Systems. Here's my favorites if you want a little less reading:

Value of Ankle-jerk Timing in the Assessment of Thyroid Function
This one describes a timing method that sounds superior to the more common "time-to-half-relaxation" used in a lot of the other studies. I think it's probably the best approach if anyone wants to try to be more accurate than the "intuitive" approach I describe in the video. And you wouldn't need fancy devices like those in the studies, you could just use a smartphone camera (preferably with slow-motion mode), and then count frame-by-frame for the timing. I'd love to hear from anyone that tries that.

A critical evaluation of the tendon reflex measurement as an index of thyroid function.
This one is nice because it takes a more objective look than some of the published cased studies that are from enthusiastic practitioners.

It's cool to see the graphs of people's relaxation rates being restored with thyroid treatment:
ankle-patient-recovery-1965.png


They conclude:



The Diagnostic Importance of the Myxœdema Reflex (Woltman's Sign)
This one is more of a fun read than anything practical. It's interesting to see the attitude of treating the patients by looking at a constellation of symptoms instead of punting to bloodwork. And I like the before-and-after treatment photo:
ankle-before-and-after-1958.jpg



I'd be curious to hear how people measure up if you try it on yourself. It'd be especially cool if anyone's tried it alongside testing things to improve their metabolism, or noticed how well it correlates with body temperature and pulse.

Even without the metabolism-monitoring benefits, I've found it's been useful to have a "feel" for slow-relaxing muscles when dealing with stress and tension.

Visited YouTube and logged in just to like your vid. Thanks for your work
 

tara

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Would I be right in associating slow achilles tendon relaxation with increased tightness of tendon and greater susceptibility to damage to tendon and attached muscles?
I've guessed that many of the people I've known, including myself, with torn achilles tendons or calf muscles have probably had low thyroid function as a contributing factor?
 
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Dan W

Dan W

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Visited YouTube and logged in just to like your vid.
I appreciate it, thank you.


Would I be right in associating slow achilles tendon relaxation with increased tightness of tendon and greater susceptibility to damage to tendon and attached muscles?
I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be shocked. I *think* improved metabolism has helped decrease my irritable muscle "trigger points" that I associate with limited ranges of motion.
 

bcopeland

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Thanks, @bcopeland, that's good to know. I assume many of those would mess up the activation of the reflex more than the relaxation rate?

That is a good question that I do not have the answer to. I would assume both the contraction and relaxation rate would be impacted by any of those issues including metabolism (and frankly some of those issues can impact metabolism due to some very complex integrations in the nervous system) but I'm not sure to what degree.

But if someone finds a poor tendon reflex rate and then finds other hypothyroid symptoms such as cold hands/feet, etc. then that is a pretty good correlation that metabolism is an issue.

And if someone finds poor tendon reflex rate without any other thyroid symptoms then testing other areas would be in order.

Either way, tools are good to have so thanks for making the video.
 

iPeat

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I had low-ish temps and pulse which I've raised over the last year, or so, to normal, Peat-recommended levels (pulse: 80s, temps: 98.4 waking)

However, I still respond slowly on the ankle reflex test. Any ideas as to why?
 

iPeat

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Thank you. I've only gotten my temps and pulse in range in the last few months so maybe it's a situation where the rest of the body needs time to catch up, and extremities being the furthest away would take the longest to normalize. Just guessing really but I'll keep tracking it. Its faster than it used to be but nowhere near the video of the "normal" reflex.
 

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