Went to see
this guy with my friend Dave. Dave is going primarily for training in olympic style lifting and for injury treatment and prevention and I figured it would not be a bad thing to check out. So there was about a half hour period of general evaluation of my myriad physical problems, some exercises trying to mobilize balky parts, and then some coaching on deadlift and overhead squat. So mostly this was some pretty hard work.
The diagnosis - much of my problems relate to the state of my right big toe. That causes me to roll off the outside of that foot, putting strain on my right knee and hip, and causing my low back pain. He pointed out that my right knee is crooked as a result, and he predicts more meniscus problems for me. So he wants me to stretch the heck out of the toe, which I have already been doing. Not sure how stretchable it is.
The other problem is no back flexibility, not just lower, but all the way up. So another thing to work on, and not so easy to fix.
On the other hand, he liked my deadlift, or at least said I had good position and timing (although I can't keep my chest up enough because of the back issue). I really can't do an overhead squat. My squat is good, but, again because of back flexibility I can't hold the bar overhead - it wants to pitch forward. So I can't do one with more than 30 lbs because the leverage won't let me hold it up.
Turns out he did orienteering years ago, and was very enthusiastic about it. He learned about it from Damon Douglas, who took him several times, maybe in the mid 90s. Nice to be reminded of the late Damon, a wonderful fellow.