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Saturday, April 9, 2022

Practical Biomechanics for the Podiatrist: Book 1 Reviewed by Dr Kevin Kirby





Book Review: Practical Biomechanics for the Podiatrist, by Richard L. Blake, DPM, MS
Throughout my years as a podiatry student, podiatry resident and in podiatry practice, I have had the very good fortune to be a student of a number of very gifted podiatrists who were not only inspiring and innovative, but also demonstrated great clinical skill when treating patients. One of the most outstanding of these individuals was one of my biomechanics professors as a podiatry student, Dr. Richard Blake. I am happy to report that Dr. Blake has just published the first of four books on practical biomechanics for the podiatry student, podiatry resident and practicing podiatrist.
My first experience with Dr. Blake was during my podiatry student years in the early 1980s was when he was our Biomechanics Fellow at the California College of Podiatric Medicine. He was a gifted teacher, being able to bring complex biomechanics concepts, examination techniques and foot orthosis therapy concepts to us podiatry students in an easy-to-understand and enjoyable manner.
Furthermore, during that time, Dr. Blake had begun experimenting and developing his innovative custom foot orthosis technique, the Blake Inverted Orthosis Technique, which, to us podiatry students, seemed very impressive in its effectiveness at treating patients with abnormal amounts of foot pronation. Since that time, now four decades ago, I still marvel at the innovation and clinical acumen of my good friend and colleague, Dr. Richard Blake, and am very happy to announce his first book on biomechanics that he has dedicated to his podiatry students at the California School of Podiatry Medicine.
With his recently published book, "Practical Biomechanics for the Podiatrist", which is his first book in an eventual 4-book series on the subject, Dr. Blake covers an introduction to the general principles of podiatric biomechanics, how the podiatrist should approach and evaluate the patient with mechanically-related and non-mechanically-related symptoms, along with sections on gait evaluation and gait abnormalities and the basic components of the foot and lower extremity biomechanical exam.
This 175 page, hard-cover book has numerous color photos and illustrations that help explain the various topics that Dr. Blake discusses within its pages. In reading through the book, I was very impressed at how different this book is from any other previously published book on podiatric biomechanics. Dr. Blake approaches each subject with explanations that will make it easier for podiatry students to help comprehend the complexity of foot and lower extremity biomechanics and will also provide numerous clinical pearls that even the most seasoned podiatrist, who have spent their whole practice career treating foot and lower extremity biomechanical pathologies, will appreciate.
"Practical Biomechanics for the Podiatrist" covers each subject in a very practical manner with numerous case reports of patients from Dr. Blake’s 43 years of practice as a sports podiatrist and foot and lower extremity biomechanics specialist. There are even 138 “Practical Biomechanical Questions” included throughout the book, with answers at the end of the book, that allow the reader to self-test themselves about previously discussed topics.
Overall, I highly recommend Dr. Richard Blake’s first book on "Practical Biomechanics for the Podiatrist" to all podiatry students, podiatry residents and podiatrists who are seeking further knowledge on the evaluation and treatment of mechanically-related pathologies of the foot and lower extremity. The practical information in this book is outstanding and should be on the bookshelf of any foot-health specialist who is seeking to increase their expertise in the evaluation and biomechanical treatment of foot and lower extremity disorders.

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Thank you very much for leaving a comment. Due to my time restraints, some comments may not be answered.I will answer questions that I feel will help the community as a whole.. I can only answer medical questions in a general form. No specific answers can be given. Please consult a podiatrist, therapist, orthopedist, or sports medicine physician in your area for specific questions.