How can a flexible ankle can change your life?
Having great ankle mobility serves many purposes. Did you know people with lower ankle mobility are at higher risk for falls? Poor ankle mobility can limit your ability to squat, walk uphill, go downstairs and catch yourself easily when you begin to lose balance or fall.
Your body can use three “strategies” when it starts to lose balance: ankle, hip and/or stepping. The first line of defense to prevent a fall should be the ankle strategy; using your dorsiflexors and plantarflexors (ankle muscles) primarily to correct your posture. The second line of defense is using your hip strategy; during which your hip muscles contract to try to correct posture. The third line is the step strategy, which so happens to be the least stable strategy, and leads to the person actually stepping to catch themselves before they fall. As we age, a person tends to gradually lose the ankle strategy unless it is regularly practiced (higher doses of balance exercise was shown to be effective at improving balance)!1 If the ankle becomes stiff, secondary to ignoring mobility, general inactivity or injury, this can severely affect your ability to not only use your ankle strategy but complete other functional tasks and movements.
If you find yourself limited in deeper ranges of your squat during lifts (or other functional activities, i.e. bending down to pick a box up off the floor), it’s possible your ankle mobility has something to do with that. So unless you want to resort to using an old lady grabber to pick your slippers up off the floor, or you’d like to eventually be featured on an “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” commercial, I suggest you begin working toward adequate ankle mobility.
Here are some tips to improving ankle dorisflexion and plantar flexion:
Dorsiflexion stretch with toe elevation (foot turned in slightly to avoid collapse of foot): place toes of back foot on slightly raised object (book, 2x4, ½ foam pad) with toes on object and heel on the floor, keep the back knee straight and lean your body forward while putting weight more on front leg. Hold 30-60 seconds x 3.
Dorsiflexion- knee to wall: standing in front of a supportive surface such as a wall or counter, start with your toe touching the wall, foot flat on the ground, and bend the knee until the knee cap touches the wall; slowly continue moving your foot away from the wall and see how far back you can get while maintaining the ability to keep the kneecap touching the wall. You can add a sturdy belt or band behind the lower leg to assist the tibia in forward movement (required for ankle dorsiflexion). Repeat the mobilization as desired.
Plantar flexion in prayer stretch: starting on hands and knees, keep tops of feet down on the floor as you lower your weight down and back; hips should be narrow to optimize anterior (front) leg stretch- this also serves as a lumbar stretch into flexion and takes hips and knees through full range flexion. You would optimally lower the chest and head down to the floor (if you’re flexible enough!). Hold 30-60 seconds.
Implement these stretches multiple times a week (4-5 days) to see a true change in your ankle mobility and thus great improvement in your functional activities and lifting form.
Keep your eyes open for my a future newsletter which will feature the balance exercises you can safely integrate to improve athletic performance, balance, and reduce your risk of falling and injury!
Thanks for listening to my nerd speak!
Shannon Calenberg, PT, DPT, OCS, CMPT
*This is not medical advice and it is not a substitute for seeking medical attention. I would highly recommend a consultation with a medical doctor or referral to physical therapy before starting an exercise routine.
*My writing here on Substack is separate from my employer.
Sherrington C, Whitney JC, Lord SR, Herbert RD, Cumming RG, Close JC. Effective exercise for the prevention of falls: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2008 Dec;56(12):2234-43. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2008.02014.x. PMID: 19093923.