3 Ways To Improve Your Ankle Mobility
When it comes to exercising, having good or bad ankle mobility can depict how we perform an exercise entirely. A lot of exercises, (and I know my in person clients will know this :)), require you to “press through the heels of your feet” or at least distribute our bodyweight onto them. The feet however still remain flat to the ground and we distribute our bodyweight evenly throughout the feet when standing, but once we start moving we tend to shift our bodyweight toward the toes and tension moves through the knee’s and throws off the rest of our body. Hence the constant cue.
Poor ankle mobility can be caused be a number of reasons, recovering from an achilles or gastrocnemius injury, a broken bone in the foot/leg or just any repetitive movements such as running, jumping, or other related activities. Ankle impingement can occur just as we discussed previously in our shoulders, and can cause a pinch like feeling within the ankle when we flex the foot back. Posterior impingement in the back of the ankle can be due to a bony protrusion at the back of the ankle. Anterior impingement usually will happen after a bad ankle sprain. The ligaments become thicker resulting in the tibia and talus pinching them. Poor choice in footwear, such as high heels, can also lead to similar issues.
To assess our ankle mobility a partial lunge or the “knee to wall” test is a great method, lower yourself down into a half kneeling position with the foot about half a foots distance from the wall and try to keep your foot flat to the floor while bringing the knee towards the wall. You want the knee to make contact to the wall without the heel rising off of the ground.
To improve our ankle mobility it needs to be a combination of stretching and strengthening, both static and dynamic movements involved.
Here are 3 movements that can help improve your ankle mobility whether you are recovering from injury or have tightened muscles:
Ankle Dorsiflexion
Ensure band is in proper position very low on ankle just above foot, can also be done without. Bring knee over toe while keeping foot flat on floor. Hips tucked into ribs and core engaged. Try 1-2 sets of 15-20 seconds per side.
Ankle Circles
This works on mobility of the ankle and is also good to do as a warmup before exercising. Try to ensure you keep the knee straight while you do so, doing 5-10 rotations in each directions 1-2 sets per side.
Elevated Single Heel Raise
Try this one leg at a time specifically if you are recovering from an injury or notice a strong imbalance. This exercise focuses on strengthening the joint and surrounding muscles, but also works as a stretch too. Stretch the calf first bringing the heel all the way down, then press all the way up through ball of foot avoiding bending the knee. Try 2-3 sets of 8-10 per side depending on strength, can also be done with weights.
Performing these exercise’s daily will help improve the mobility of your ankle as well as the strength. If you are working with an imbalance it is important to incorporate some type of single sided training within your workouts. Having stable ankles especially if you are involved in any type of high impact activities will help prevent injury and in turn help us perform better. If you are working with injury however always consult your doctor beforehand, if you haven’t done so already and are experiencing pain there could be an underlying condition.