Ankle flexibility for better balance and sports

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The feet and ankles support and cushion the entire weight of the body and are crucial to keep your body balanced. Anyone that has to be on his or her feet all day knows that they bear a lot of pressure while standing. The foot includes 26 bones and 33 joints, all helping you simply stay upright. Added to that are 12 muscles involved in movement of the foot, plus to 19 intrinsic muscles, which support the arches and toes. One of the most important functions of your feet is that stress is distributed correctly though these structures and upwards throughout the entire body.

When it comes to better sports performance—and all weight-bearing activities such as walking and running—you can’t talk about the feet without including the ankles and lower legs. Two big muscles on the back of the leg, the gastrocnemius and soleus, provide movement, and are often tight or stiff. Both of these muscles attach to the heel via the Achilles tendon. These muscles play a big role when you flex your ankles. A limited range of motion in your ankles can affect your sports performance, balance and good squatting and lunge form.

The ankles have to bend. Dorsiflexion involves being able to bring the lower leg over the foot. It occurs anytime your foot hits the ground. If you were lucky enough to watch the Beijing Winter Olympics, consider a figure skater performing loops and axels or an alpine skier’s competing in the slalom or giant slalom events—all demonstrated stunning foot and ankle mobility and function.

Touch the wall test

Touch the wall test

A simple and objective way to see if you ankles aren’t tight is to do the “touch the wall” test.

Find a wall and place a ruler or measuring tape out from the baseboard. Place your foot at approximately 5 or 5.5 inches away from the wall. Be sure to have your foot straight. Keep your heel down as you try to touch the wall with your knee. If you can easily tap the wall, you have good ankle mobility. If you cannot, repeat this movement slowly for 15-20 times. Check your range after you include the following two stretches.

High-step ankle stretch

Place your foot on a high chair or gym box. Be sure to have the foot in neutral alignment. Slowly flex the knee forward to increase the stretch. You should feel it in your ankles and calf. (This is a more advanced stretch.) Repeat 10-12 reps.

BOSU Calf Stretch

This is an incredibly effective gastrocnemius and soleus stretch taught by Justin Price, one of the top musculoskeletal assessment and corrective exercise experts in the world. Stand on the round side on a BOSU ball with one leg in front of the other. (Place the BOSU against a wall for safety.) Push the heel of the back foot down into the BOSU, as you stand erect. Keep the heel down and rotate the back leg outward. Hold for a few seconds. Next, bend the knee of the back leg and rotate the leg inward (heel is still down). Perform 6–10 repetitions on both sides.

Published in the Idaho Mountain Express

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-ankle-flexibility-for-better-balance-and-sports/article_5451e3a4-ab01-11ec-b25d-f733ba813780.html

Summertime : taking care of you feet and ankles

I couldn’t help but notice the 2 newsmen behind the morning CNN anchor, slouched like no tomorrow. Their necks were craned forward, maybe towards a good cup of coffee, but slouched nevertheless, as they sat their keyboards. While it may sound simple enough, sitting up very straight uses your muscles in a good way, without even going to the gym. Think of how uncomfortable your neck can get with a backpack, or heavy shoulder bag, if you let the upper back round forward or tip sideways. Many of our small daily habits, most stemming from poor body mechanics, whether sitting at your computer, golfing, or never stretching ,can contribute to many preventable aches, pains, and even sprains. This month the focus will be on good mechanics in the foot and ankle, to help you enjoy all the summer activities you love to do, without annoying little injuries.

 It’s All Connected. If you exercise regularly and walk, that’s great because you and your feet are getting exercise that promotes a myriad of health benefits. However, if you’re one of the 11 million people annually prone to ankle sprains or foot problems, fixing the problem is more than just putting on a high hiking boot to prevent another twist or fall. Your foot, consisting of 33 joints, 26 bones, and 3 naturally springy arches, support the entire weight of your body. Problems occur when your feet tip and tilt outward, like a duck, or collapse inward, where your arches are flattened and your knees roll in. Think of how exaggerated this can be if you’ve ever tried ice skating. Good foot alignment means your feet point forward. It’s taught in yoga as an essential pose. Called Mountain Posture, or Tadasana, and taught before attempting anything more advanced, you learn to keep your body weight even over the inner and outer edges of your feet, keeping your arches lifted. Imbalances in the foot in a dynamic sport like Alpine skiing can really make a difference in turning well right and left.

Train the balance receptors in your ankles to reduce the chance of losing your footing and re-spraining it by practicing rising up on your toes, barefoot, keeping the weight aligned over your big and second toes. Other factors come into play, when we look at the kinetic chain. (Hip bone connected to the thigh bone type-of–thing) When the knees roll in, most likely the outside of your thighs, the tensor fascia latae, is tight. This dense muscle is like a sleeve that covers the outside of the gluts and thigh. The inner thighs are usually tight in this case also. It also means that your gluts are probably weak.

Our feet cushion up to a million pounds of pressure during an hour-long hard work-out, and good shoes offer extra shock absorption. The New York Times recently ran an article on flip-flops. Researchers from Auburn University presented some findings at a recent meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, concluding that they’re best used for short periods of time, as flip-flops alter our gait. Since the toes don’t come up as much (from gripping them) as the leg swings forward, our stride length shortens, creating problems all the way up to the lower back. Similar to walking in high heels, the shortened leverage of the foot contributes to upsetting our gait from the foot upward.

Summer is so short, after-all, so for now maybe just toss your shoes off, enjoy a little bare-foot time sitting tall at your next picnic.

Printed in The Idaho Mountain Express July 25, 2008

 Connie Aronson is American College of Sports Medicine Certified Health Fitness Specialist, IDEA Elite personal trainer located at High Altitude Fitness and the YMCA in Ketchum, Idaho