第1話｜妻のO脚が治った！

妻のO脚が治った！

結果の出ない理学療法士時代

私は足や膝、腰の悩みなどを抱えた方に、足指の機能を取り戻す訓練を取り入れることで、治療に当たる理学療法士。もう手術するしかないと言われた方が、痛みもなく歩けるなった場面に立ち会うたびに無上の喜びを感じます。

でも最初からこんな治療をしていたわけではありません。リハビリテーション専門学校を卒業後、ある療養型病院に就職しました。そして２年が過ぎた頃、同じリハビリをしても良くなる方と良くならない方がいることに気がつきました。ただ違いを探しても答えは見つかりません。結局５年目に志半ばで退職しました。

妻との出会い

それからしばらくして妻と出会い結婚をしたのですが、いつも痛み止めを飲んでいて、どうしたのか聞くと「小学生の頃からひどいO脚に悩まされ、膝痛や股関節がある」といいます。そんな不健康な妻と一緒になったのですが、ふとしたことをきっかけに妻の足元を見ると、小指が地面から離れていることに気がつきました。これが人生の転機となったのです。

私が渡したのが、履いた瞬間、足の踏ん張り力が変わったことがわかる、特殊な加工を施した5本指の靴下。すぐに妻に履かせると、「小指が地面について足の内側に力が入る！」と妻が言いました。

早速、妻の脚の写真を撮り、1週間後と比べると、O脚が改善していたのです。ひざ痛や股関節痛も消えていました。

足指の研究をスタート

たったこれだけで改善するなんて…。これを追求していけば、志半ばにして挫折してしまったリハビリでたくさんの人を救えるかもしれない、とワクワクしたのを覚えています。私は必死に足指の機能について勉強を始めました。でも、教科書に載っていない未知の分野だったので文献もありません。

それでも答えは患者さんの足にあると思い、足を見て、触り続けました。そのうちに足指をまっすぐに伸ばすだけで体が安定する人が続出したのです。

この講座では、いろんな症例を基に、足元から健康になる話を展開していきます。

ひろのば体操

足指を広げて（＝ひろ）伸ばす（＝のば）、足指と足のストレッチのこと。左右の足を合わせて1日1回、5分もやれば効果があります。

ひろのば体操を詳しく見る

YOSHIRO SOCKS

足指専門の理学療法士として積み上げてきた20年間の知識や経験を生かし、足指を広げて伸ばす靴下を開発。人間本来の姿勢や運動能力に戻します。

YOSHIRO SOCKを詳しく見る

I am a physical therapist with a specialization in treating people who suffer from pain in their feet, knees or back. Specifically, I incorporate a special toe exercise in my treatment, which serves to restore the original functionality of the toes. The highlights of my career have been to witness my patients, who may have previously been told that there were no alternatives other than to undergo surgery, start to walk without pain after undergoing my treatment.

However, I have not always been involved with this treatment. After graduating from a vocational school of the rehabilitation sciences, I started working at a rehabilitation hospital. After two years of working at the hospital, I realized that there were both those who benefited from rehabilitation but also, unfortunately, those who did not.

I tried to determine the reason for this disparity, but was unable to obtain any answers. Feeling discouraged that I was unable to assist in more peoples’ complete recovery, I resigned from this post in the middle of my fifth year at the hospital. Shortly after finishing at the hospital, After a while, I found a pair of specially designed five-toe socks. As soon as I put them on, I felt a difference in my toes regarding how they were gripping the ground. I became very excited about these socks so had my wife try them out as she had been suffering from pain in her knees and hips, owing to her severe bowlegs, ever since she was in grade school. She stated, “With these socks, my little toes touch the ground and I can feel the inner muscles of my legs being strengthened.” I immediately took a picture of her legs and then another photo a week later for comparison. After just one week, her bowlegs were corrected and the pain in her knees and hips had disappeared.

I wondered, “How could such a drastic improvement be observed from just wearing socks?” Looking back, I remember feeling very excited that I might be able to assist so many people with their rehabilitation, which served to re-ignite the passion I once had for rehabilitation medicine.

I started conducting research into toes and their functions. However, I quickly realized that there was only a very limited amount of reference material, as this was still a relatively unknown field. Nevertheless, I believed that answers lay in the patients’ feet and undertook my own research to obtain some solid evidence in this area. Through this research, many patients’ bodies were shown to become more stable simply from the straightening and spreading of their toes.

In this book, we will present how the journey to get fit and healthy starts with the feet, presenting various real-life cases we have encountered in our clinic as examples.