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7 Once you're in contact with the muscle attachments on 8 the bone itself, focus on the fibula's anteromedial aspect. As with the previous technique, use static pressure together with active toe movements to help locate and release the attachments. This time, use toe extension (lifting the toes). For the release phase, a cue could be "push the sheet out from under your foot by uncurling your toes," in other words, the reverse of the movements used for the long flexors. As with the previous technique, feel for tissue release, together with a shift toward slower, smoother initiation of movement, as indicators of a Golgi response. Once you feel these things, move to different areas of the fibula, as well as into the space between the tibia and fibula to work the attachments on the interosseous membrane. The Tibialis Anterior Technique mentioned above, or similar broad technique, can also serve as a finishing move to smooth out the areas worked, especially if your focused pressure left edematous depressions in the front of the leg (not uncommon, but typically not cause for concern). 9 WHAT ABOUT BUNIONS? Hallux valgus (i.e., a bunion, Image 10) can often accompany hammertoes. Bunions are thought to sometimes cause hammertoes through the lateral crowding that the great toe exerts on the smaller toes. However, it also seems plausible that the same soft-tissue imbalances that contribute to hammertoe contracture could cause hallux valgus. While the smaller toes are stabilized by their neighbors and buckle easiest in the sagittal plane (flexion/extension), the great toe buckles easiest in the transverse plane (abduction/ adduction). Said another way, when their flexors and extensors are both short, the smaller toes buckle into a hammertoe position, and the big toe buckles into a bunion. Hallux valgus can also be related to factors such as external femur rotation, tight-fitting shoes, genetic contributors, and other influences. Whatever their cause, I've observed that working the flexor and extensor hallucis in ways similar to what I've described here can help relieve the soft-tissue contributions to bunion discomfort and rigidity. Hammertoes and bunions do not exist in isolation—their Extensor Digitorum Longus Technique (Images 7, 8, and 9). The long toe extensors attach to the fibula and to the interosseous membrane of the leg in the space between the tibia and fibula. Use active toe extension in combination with static pressure on these structures' distal attachments. Images 7 and 8 courtesy Advanced-Trainings.com. Image 9 courtesy Primal Pictures. Used by permission. fixity and tissue shortness reflect patterns occurring elsewhere in the body. For instance, hammertoes are often present when the foot shows a high degree of overall connective tissue contracture, such as high fixed arches, or in extreme examples, talipes or pes cavus (Image 11). Hammertoe contraction is not limited to toe muscles—in my experience, hammertoes can be accompanied by tighter hamstrings, spinal erectors, and cervical muscles; exaggerated spinal curves; and other patterns of connective tissue shortness throughout the body. Similarly, restricted toe motion will have whole-body effects—changing 116 massage & bodywork july/august 2012