Evolution of Sports Medicine and Podiatry. Dr. Bob Parks

Sports medicine and podiatry are two medical practices that have evolved in a very short time. Only decades really. Bob Parks was on the initial groundwork of lower extremity sports medicine. As a podiatrist he was part of the research and discovery in treating sports injuries, but also shared input for modifications being made to running shoes. A legend of biomechanics in his own time. 

Transcript
Catherine:

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I love mountain biking, swimming, hiking, dancing, tap, jazz ballet,

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hip hop, sprinting short distance jumping on the trampoline.

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And now a new found interest indoor mountain climbing.

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Thanks to my niece and nephew-in-law, Sarah and Cody.

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And I know there is no such phrase as nephew-in-law, but there is now.

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Well, what I was actually getting at is that my activities certainly cause,

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wear and tear on my body, especially my feet, knees, hips, and lower back.

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Oh, my gosh Yowza!

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Sometimes.

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Right.

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Well, sports medicine has been a blessing.

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Today's guest shares a bit of insight into sports medicine.

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And here's a question.

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Why do companies sell specific shoes for certain activities?

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Well, it's not a sales pitch to buy the shoes.

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It's real.

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Well, I sat outside in the mountains with the birds and also

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with legendary podiatrist, Dr.

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Bob Parks..

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Bob was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington during a time that

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he says was a bit simpler then.

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In high school he ran track and cross country and living a typical family

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life in the Pacific Northwest, which he considers an astounding beauty with the

Catherine:

mountains and the greenery and forests

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and Mount Ranier or Mount Ranier was practically in his backyard.

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So life was special every day.

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And like most kids, he grew up and moved away.

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His college years were spent as a Cougar at Washington state

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university WSU, where my sister's at.

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Go Cougs!.

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as the first part of the schooling, which he needed to become a podiatrist.

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Some people have never heard of a podiatrist, but most people have

Catherine:

heard the term sports medicine.

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Bob shares his positive imprints in the world of sports medicine, and podiatry.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It all started, I believe it was in seventh or eighth

Dr. Bob Parks:

grade when our teacher, we were having a vocational day and different

Dr. Bob Parks:

people would come and talk to us about their professions or vocations.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And we were assigned the task of trying to figure out what we

Dr. Bob Parks:

might want to be when we grew up.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Well I had just recently suffered a foot injury in cross country.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I went to a podiatrist.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Now back then podiatry was poorly known by and large.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Podiatry is a rather unusual offshoot, in that, general medicine or in the

Dr. Bob Parks:

musculoskeletal realm of orthopedics

Dr. Bob Parks:

they chose to not pay as much attention to the foot, the ankle, the

Dr. Bob Parks:

lower leg as maybe they should have.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So another profession actually sprouted up and in its earlier years,

Dr. Bob Parks:

podiatrists were not surgically trained, were not hospital-based trained.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So they were looked upon a little differently at that time.

Dr. Bob Parks:

But it has evolved tremendously since that time.

Dr. Bob Parks:

But, but in any event, I went to a podiatrist and I went, mmmm.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Clean office, wears a white coat.

Dr. Bob Parks:

There's a professionalism about him.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So I put down on my piece of paper I think I want to be a

Dr. Bob Parks:

podiatrist in the eighth grade.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And it wasn't until actually I went for my interview after college,

Dr. Bob Parks:

we were going down on a scuba diving trip to Catalina island.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I had my interview in San Francisco.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I remember sitting, sitting in the chair and thinking, you know, this

Dr. Bob Parks:

whole idea of podiatry was just a whim.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I certainly hope it's something I'll enjoy.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I'll enjoy because this is it.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I had my interview.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I was accepted.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And then of course podiatry is a four year course.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And then you have your surgical residency after that.

Dr. Bob Parks:

But it's funny how I just kind of slid in.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And in fact, another interesting sideline to that is when I was at Washington

Dr. Bob Parks:

state university, I went to my advisor.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I was a zoology major and pre-med major.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I told her that I wanted to be a podiatrist and she

Dr. Bob Parks:

was, well, what is that?

Dr. Bob Parks:

So I kind of schooled her in that.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And subsequent to that over the next four or five years, she had actually

Dr. Bob Parks:

sent a couple more people from Washington state to, the medical

Dr. Bob Parks:

school I attended in San Francisco.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So that's kind of an interesting story.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Interesting.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Yes.

Catherine:

So enlighten us a little bit more because you

Catherine:

have said that it has evolved.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I was fortunate enough to be in on some of the very early work

Dr. Bob Parks:

on sports medicine, investigation.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And we had some of the people, George Sheehan, who was the medical

Dr. Bob Parks:

editor for Runner's World magazine.

Dr. Bob Parks:

He would lecture, to our national sports academy.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And so I was in on the initial groundwork of lower extremity sports medicine.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And in fact, I was involved in sports medicine before it was

Dr. Bob Parks:

popular before the so-called running boom of the early eighties.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I believe you can probably remember that there was a period of time

Dr. Bob Parks:

where, any social event you might go to, the conversation comes

Dr. Bob Parks:

up, have you run a marathon yet?

Dr. Bob Parks:

So it was kind of a, a stepping stone in life that while you

Dr. Bob Parks:

have time run a marathon.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Now no longer is that the case, but.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I remember when I first came to Albuquerque after my residency,

Dr. Bob Parks:

I was doing sports medicine when it wasn't that popular.

Dr. Bob Parks:

That, and as I had alluded to the, the evolution of, of podiatry is

Dr. Bob Parks:

such that my daughter, who now is a podiatrist, she practices primarily

Dr. Bob Parks:

inpatient medicine and she, tends to specialize in trauma of the lower leg

Dr. Bob Parks:

and foot, as well as, limb threatening injuries with the increasing number of

Dr. Bob Parks:

diabetics, particularly in the Southwest.

Dr. Bob Parks:

They will be admitted to the hospital with gangrene of the leg and the foot.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And she's the one that has to manage those patients with infectious disease and, uh,

Dr. Bob Parks:

other, physicians to remedy their care.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And, uh, so it has changed tremendously and I've seen a change and it's all

Dr. Bob Parks:

been for the better I might add.

Catherine:

Well, that, that's a good thing.

Catherine:

Through the years you've shared some of the stories about how

Catherine:

everything has evolved in what you were seeing and what you discovered.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Well, Catherine, first of all, I might add when I started

Dr. Bob Parks:

practice and this was in 1978, 79.

Dr. Bob Parks:

We really didn't have MRIs, CT scans, bone scans at our availability.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And during that period of time, we relied more on our hands and

Dr. Bob Parks:

we had to listen to the patients.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And one of my, one of my closest colleagues an orthopedic surgeon, , he is

Dr. Bob Parks:

a firm believer in the fact that if you don't listen to the patient and if you

Dr. Bob Parks:

don't touch and feel, you're not going to be able to arrive at a, at a diagnosis.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It always frustrates me a bit

Dr. Bob Parks:

when you make an appointment with a musculoskeletal doctor

Dr. Bob Parks:

and before they even see you, they want an MRI and an x-ray.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And sometimes their examination is very cursory and they're waiting their

Dr. Bob Parks:

diagnosis more on the, radiographic findings then what you tell the physician

Dr. Bob Parks:

and possibly over the course of the few visits, you have to come back and say,

Dr. Bob Parks:

you know, I tried to tell you that.

Dr. Bob Parks:

But on a more positive note, we would find in sports medicine, we had a running club

Dr. Bob Parks:

in San Francisco, uh, of which I was a member and people would develop injuries.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And, you know, these were new injuries, you know, uh, the

Dr. Bob Parks:

injuries that occur after running 20 or 30 miles, we hadn't seen.

Dr. Bob Parks:

The iliotibial band syndrome and, and the shin splints and the

Dr. Bob Parks:

stress fractures and the tendency or propensity to develop these

Dr. Bob Parks:

problems; , we just didn't understand it.

Dr. Bob Parks:

.

Catherine:

That's so interesting because people have been running

Catherine:

for centuries and centuries.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Well, they weren't running on asphalt and concrete, right?

Dr. Bob Parks:

I was a firm believer that when someone came in to me that had a repetitive use

Dr. Bob Parks:

injury or what we might call an overuse injury, that one of the best treatments

Dr. Bob Parks:

is send them up into the foothills.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So as long as there's not too much up and down; put them on natural terrain where

Dr. Bob Parks:

they're dodging a rock to the right, and they're taking a left-hand turn rather

Dr. Bob Parks:

than running in a straight line with the exact motion and microtrauma that the body

Dr. Bob Parks:

has to absorb every time you take a step.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So the management

Dr. Bob Parks:

of sports injuries in a lot of senses is just a matter of moderating a person's

Dr. Bob Parks:

activities or doing cross training, which at that time was not popular.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Now it is understood that some degree of cross training is advantageous because

Dr. Bob Parks:

whether it be running or cycling, you use certain muscles, but you don't use other

Dr. Bob Parks:

muscles and you develop an imbalance, not from a chiropractic standpoint,

Dr. Bob Parks:

but your, , forward moving muscles, for example, work harder than some of the

Dr. Bob Parks:

stabilizing muscles, and, and by changing activities or sports, , we find that

Dr. Bob Parks:

this helps balance things out, not to forget , the advantages of, , stretching

Dr. Bob Parks:

and, and strength building as well.

Catherine:

I definitely need to do more of that because when you were

Catherine:

talking, I was thinking about all my dance, but I don't lift weights enough.

Catherine:

Right.

Catherine:

I'm glad that you brought that up.

Catherine:

Now with these injuries and as you call them new injuries, how

Catherine:

did you even talk to a patient?

Catherine:

How did things move forward with the discoveries?

Dr. Bob Parks:

George Sheehan, who I like to quote, and he was quite a character.

Dr. Bob Parks:

He was a cardiologist in Red Banks I believe New Jersey.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Um, and him and others had gone to their primary care physicians and just kind of,

Dr. Bob Parks:

well, you know, if it hurts, don't do it.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And he was helped by podiatry.

Dr. Bob Parks:

George Sheehan, really, to some extent, put podiatry sports

Dr. Bob Parks:

medicine podiatry on the map.

Dr. Bob Parks:

He had a magazine, basically he was the medical editor called Ask George Sheehan.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Uh, and uh, he was always talking about knee problems, hip problems,

Dr. Bob Parks:

and as it would relate to the foot or the foot structure, and don't forget

Dr. Bob Parks:

also that running shoes were just coming into their own at that time.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So they would make modifications in running shoes and all of a

Dr. Bob Parks:

sudden you'd see somebody with pain on the outside of their knees.

Dr. Bob Parks:

The people that would run in those shoes would be subjected to those.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And since that time, I think we've seen so many transitions and

Dr. Bob Parks:

evolutions of the running shoe.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Everything from the minimalist shoe and the barefoot running.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And, you know, all of these shoes have merits, but some of the

Dr. Bob Parks:

shoes, which were touted as being the very best I can remember, the

Dr. Bob Parks:

Nike, L D V had a very wide heel.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And what happened is when you land on the side of the heel, when you're

Dr. Bob Parks:

coming down to contact the earth, when you're running, the foot lands to

Dr. Bob Parks:

the outside and rolls to the inside, but with a very wide heel, what was

Dr. Bob Parks:

happening, it would snap the whole lower extremity because it was so stable

Dr. Bob Parks:

and it would cause this , mechanical irritation or, or trauma with and it

Dr. Bob Parks:

would ascend up the lower extremities

Dr. Bob Parks:

and it would cause all these secondary injuries.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So, so not only were we experimenting somewhat with our population because

Dr. Bob Parks:

so much of this was new, but even the running shoe industry was trying to

Dr. Bob Parks:

evolve as fast as, the number of people running to try to stay one step ahead of

Dr. Bob Parks:

all these injuries that were occurring.

Dr. Bob Parks:

But again, these were the very early days of sports medicine.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And, and at that time there weren't a lot of sports doctors, there just weren't.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And, and to be honest, there's not a lot of money in that type of

Dr. Bob Parks:

field because you have to spend an inordinate amount of time with the

Dr. Bob Parks:

patient taking a detailed history.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It was not uncommon that they would bring a basket full of shoes for you

Dr. Bob Parks:

to look at, to check the wear pattern.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Oh wow.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Quite frequently.

Dr. Bob Parks:

, and they traveled some distance to come to you because you had insight.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I was a fellow long distance runner.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And you had to look at all of these

Dr. Bob Parks:

Items that they might bring and the stories they might tell and, and

Dr. Bob Parks:

certainly the examination and try to figure out, okay, here's the problem.

Dr. Bob Parks:

This caused the problem.

Dr. Bob Parks:

How do we reverse the problem so that you'll get better.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And then of course there are these more complicated athletes, world-class

Dr. Bob Parks:

athletes or, athletes that are very seriously training for an event, and they

Dr. Bob Parks:

don't have time to take any days off.

Dr. Bob Parks:

How do you treat them?

Dr. Bob Parks:

So these are some of the challenges of sports medicine.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It was very rewarding.

Dr. Bob Parks:

, and I, I still have, uh, a very strong affinity for that type of a

Dr. Bob Parks:

practice, as well as the surgical aspects of podiatry as well.

Dr. Bob Parks:

, Catherine: that's part

Dr. Bob Parks:

I really like what you said about listening to the patient and then

Dr. Bob Parks:

palpating, where it might hurt or where they have discomfort and

Dr. Bob Parks:

then, coming, your own discovery.

Dr. Bob Parks:

That's correct.

Catherine:

We have to learn to advocate.

Catherine:

And I had a gal on Jennifer Hunter a few weeks ago, whom you listened

Catherine:

to, an artist, which you two have something in common, but she

Catherine:

was really trying to get across to listeners that you have to advocate.

Catherine:

And if you don't ask the right questions, Of the doctor, then the

Catherine:

doctor cannot in turn help you.

Catherine:

Yeah.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And that's becoming more and more important now, particularly

Dr. Bob Parks:

since doctors have such a limited amount of time with their patients,

Dr. Bob Parks:

that you kind of have to be your own patient advocate and raise your hand

Dr. Bob Parks:

and say, doctor, doctor, I really need to get this information to you.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It might be relevant.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It may not be.

Dr. Bob Parks:

The other thing Catherine, I want to point out is disseminating the information on

Dr. Bob Parks:

injuries and appropriate treatment not only were magazines, a good source, but I

Dr. Bob Parks:

remember the lecturing that we would do.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I had a very strong, and rather large group of patients that came from Los

Dr. Bob Parks:

Alamos because they were all scientists and they were all runners and they

Dr. Bob Parks:

would invite me up to lecture and

Dr. Bob Parks:

I would lecture hours on hours and we'd have question and answers and

Dr. Bob Parks:

we would discuss all the problems that they might have and, and try to

Dr. Bob Parks:

relate it to the biomechanics abnormal or normal biomechanics of the lower

Dr. Bob Parks:

extremities and what might be causing these problems and what the types

Dr. Bob Parks:

of treatment might be available.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And even at that time, also, our sports academy, we had national meetings.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So podiatrists that were in the hinterlands,who didn't see many athletes

Dr. Bob Parks:

would be able to get information from us that saw a greater number and

Dr. Bob Parks:

say, these are the best socks, this is how you stretch this problem to,

Dr. Bob Parks:

to get the patient feeling better.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So we were trying to get the word out as fast as we possibly could.

Dr. Bob Parks:

and, and I think it's been pretty effective at this point.

Catherine:

I think it's so interesting that you had a hand in the discoveries

Catherine:

of, of socks, of different surgeries of injuries and, and that you have moved

Catherine:

podiatry forward, as well as the runner

Catherine:

and what types of shoes should I get?

Catherine:

I think that, that positive imprint that you have put forth is just an

Catherine:

incredible one worldwide that obviously is helping, not just doctors, but the

Catherine:

consumers and as, and the companies as well, that are making the shoes

Catherine:

because they have to get data from somewhere that is scientific in order to

Catherine:

build a shoe that will work for runner who runs tipsy topsy or whatever it might be.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Also, I might add that, podiatric sports medicine has

Dr. Bob Parks:

had a large part in looking at the biomechanics of certain sports and how,

Dr. Bob Parks:

uh, the biomechanics of cycling, Nordic freestyle skiing, classic skiing, some

Dr. Bob Parks:

of these events, either might aid or hinder efficiency and movement.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So how can you alter the function of the extremity or the foot in the

Dr. Bob Parks:

boot to make a Nordic skier faster?

Dr. Bob Parks:

And so not only were we treating injuries, but we were also, seeing

Dr. Bob Parks:

patients that came in and said, I'd like to be a faster, cyclist.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I'd like to be a faster skier.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I would go up on the mountain and watch em ski and we we'd talk

Dr. Bob Parks:

and we'd ski together and try to put something together to see.

Catherine:

Oh a hands-on doctor completely!

Dr. Bob Parks:

I loved it.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I loved it.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And as I got older, I just loved being around these young, people

Dr. Bob Parks:

that were just so, so active in sports and being around the university and

Dr. Bob Parks:

working at the university in the, uh, uh, sports medicine department,

Dr. Bob Parks:

it allowed me to be in contact with some very, very good athletes.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And you learn so much from these people.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And it really inspired me because, I was middle-aged and I was watching some

Dr. Bob Parks:

of these people as they were getting better and better and trying to help

Dr. Bob Parks:

as best I could in their improvement.

Catherine:

Wow.

Catherine:

That's cool.

Catherine:

So the skis the downhill , they've gotten shorter.

Catherine:

So why?

Dr. Bob Parks:

Well, I don't profess it has to do with the efficiency of turning

Dr. Bob Parks:

their parabolic and, and the, the actual shape of the ski itself allows the turn

Dr. Bob Parks:

to be negotiated a lot more efficiently

Dr. Bob Parks:

so you don't have to rotate the hips.

Dr. Bob Parks:

If you used to watch, um, Stein Eriksen, or, um, Jean Claude Keely who won a number

Dr. Bob Parks:

of gold medals, you would watch them do something called vailing and vailing

Dr. Bob Parks:

was the way they'd go through the gates.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And, and it was a very beautiful movement, but now most people that get on a shorter

Dr. Bob Parks:

ski, which has been the state of the art for 20 years, probably find that you

Dr. Bob Parks:

almost just have to think move, you know, a turn and your skis will turn for you.

Dr. Bob Parks:

A lot of it and particularly in Nordic skiing, it has to do with

Dr. Bob Parks:

the balance of the foot on the ski.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And for example, in ski skating or what we call freestyle, that is almost

Dr. Bob Parks:

like an ice skating type of maneuver.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And a lot of it has to do with where your pressure is.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So there's a period of time where the ski glides; there's a period of

Dr. Bob Parks:

time where the ski stops and pushes off for the other ski to glide.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And it has to be done in a certain sequence and manner to

Dr. Bob Parks:

appreciate maximum efficiency.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And so all of these things, and, and as I was alluding to in with cycling the

Dr. Bob Parks:

same thing as what, whether the person is in-toed or out-toed looking at the

Dr. Bob Parks:

knee, if it's pistoning correctly over the pedal or whether it's going inward and how

Dr. Bob Parks:

you can make adjustments, not to mention

Dr. Bob Parks:

proper bike fit, which is extremely important.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So, so there, there are so many aspects of sports medicine that, I mean,

Dr. Bob Parks:

it just, it just baffles the mind

Catherine:

After listening to you, I think that for sure, I take sports medicine for

Catherine:

granted I just, think that, oh, , the bikes have come out now and they have

Catherine:

the clips, the in-toe, which I love, I won't ride a bike unless I can clip in.

Catherine:

Right.

Catherine:

And so you just think, where did they get the information from?

Catherine:

How did they know to do that?

Catherine:

And to turn the ankle?

Catherine:

So obviously people like you are a part of that industry.

Dr. Bob Parks:

As far as the pedals, we would actually cant or wedge

Dr. Bob Parks:

some of the pedals to allow the, the shoe, the, the cycling shoe to fit

Dr. Bob Parks:

properly and at maximum efficiency

Dr. Bob Parks:

so to generate the maximum force, when the person presses down on the pedal.,

Catherine:

oh gosh, you know, I, I thought it was just safety.

Catherine:

I did.

Catherine:

I just thought that the clips were for safety.

Catherine:

I didn't think of it as a way of in, as a means of endurance or

Dr. Bob Parks:

injury prevention.

Dr. Bob Parks:

In fact, if you think about it cycling pedals on both mountain bike

Dr. Bob Parks:

and particularly on road bikes, , as the foot sits in the shoe on the

Dr. Bob Parks:

pedal, the early ones didn't allow an inward outward range of motion.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Well, people were getting knee pain as a result of that.

Dr. Bob Parks:

,so now they allow freedom of motion and with that, it helps reduce knee

Dr. Bob Parks:

injuries significantly as well.

Catherine:

Wow.

Catherine:

Well, thank you so much for sharing the science part.

Catherine:

And is there anything else that you want to share about the science before we move

Catherine:

on to something that's not quite science.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I, you know, I think we've touched on many things, uh, I

Dr. Bob Parks:

really enjoyed it because back in those days, you weren't looking at your watch.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Things have changed.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And certainly there are a lot of patients to be seen and not a lot of

Dr. Bob Parks:

doctors sometimes to see all those patients, but, , yeah, it was, it

Dr. Bob Parks:

was a good time and I have very, very fond memories of my years in medicine.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Well, and people who've seen you and obviously the industry wonderful

Dr. Bob Parks:

that you were a part of it.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So you retired and you had this, wow,

Catherine:

this amazing transition in your life.

Catherine:

You went from science to,

Dr. Bob Parks:

I went from left brain to right brain, literally put it that way.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Yes.

Catherine:

Join us next week when Bob shares his incredible transformation from

Catherine:

surgeries and sports medicine to his new found discovery of his right brain talent.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Thank you, Catherine.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I would just lastly, like to say that.

Dr. Bob Parks:

The fact that you have this podcast positive imprint, I am so inspired.

Catherine:

Oh, thank you so much for that, Bob.

Catherine:

And, and of course I like you would like people to go and find their

Catherine:

positive imprint and put it into action.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Thank you.

Catherine:

And I thank you for your positive imprint.

Catherine:

Your positive imprint.

Sports medicine and podiatry are two medical practices that have evolved in a very short time. Only decades really. Bob Parks was on the initial groundwork of lower extremity sports medicine. As a podiatrist he was part of the research and discovery in treating sports injuries, but also shared input for modifications being made to running shoes. A legend of biomechanics in his own time.

3 Comments

  1. Cynthia Endicott on 08/25/2021 at 10:46 PM

    Fascinating. Thank-you!

    • Catherine on 01/04/2022 at 5:33 PM

      Cynthia, I am so glad you enjoyed this episode with Bob Parks. Thank you for listening! I learned so much from him and I was able to do the recorded conversation in person which was really fun. Thanks again for listening.

  2. Terry T on 08/26/2021 at 9:28 PM

    👍

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