So, you’re warming up for your run or your strength workout. Dynamically of course… including leg swings, chicken feed moves and air squats.
But what if your ankles aren’t really bending in those squats? We’re looking for an up and down motion with both ankles and knees tracking forwards and the hips going back. A lack of mobility in the ankles means we compensate elsewhere, probably with our spine rounding into a slump at the bottom of the squat to keep our weight over our feet. And if this is the case the same will happen when we run or perform loaded squats; our body will find a way to work around limited ankle flexion but maybe in a way that sets us up for injury or compromised performance.
Test your ankle mobility:
Take your shoes off and stand facing a wall. Place your big toe right at the base of the wall and bend your ankle until your kneecap touches the wall, keeping your heel on the ground. Do this on both sides.
Now place your big toe 5cm away from the wall and again try to touch your kneecap to the wall. If you can make it without your heel raising from the floor you have enough ankle mobility for correct squat form and have all the motion you need to run. Make sure to test both sides. If you couldn’t do this then we need to work out what is preventing fuller movement.
“Software” vs “Hardware”
Sometimes the joint won’t move and we need to understand why it won’t move, it’s a “hardware’ problem. And sometimes the joint will move but we just can’t access that movement at that time, a “software” issue. Both of these situations will create imbalances in other parts of the body so to find the right answer for your individual movement challenge you need to understand what is limiting your mobility right now. From there you can work towards safe, stable movement.
Mobility software: ankle joint “feels tight”
Proprioception was the subject of my last blog (link below). It gives us the ability to feel the positions of our joints, a sensory skill. This sensation comes from within the muscles, tendons and ligaments round a joint, which work together to keep your movements precise. If they are cold, or have been inactive and feel tight, they become protective, holding muscles in a shortened position and limiting movement range to avoid injury. A dynamic warm up activates and resets these sensors allowing protection circuits to stand down within muscles and movements to become smoother. Better feel for your joint position creates safer joint movement so time invested in building proprioception and dynamic warm ups is a worthwhile investment and can include ankle circles, knee bobs and a 20-30 second calf stretch
Mobility hardware: what’s the limit?
Tightness/stuck feeling on the front of the ankle?
This indicates the ankle joint need to improve the way it rolls and glides. We want to keep our foot flat on the floor when our shin moves forward but it’s as if someone has stuck a door stop in the hinge at the front of the ankle. Manual therapy and joint mobilisation exercises are key here.
Ankle belt mobility exercise:
Position a band or belt round something sturdy and place one leg inside the loop.
Turn so the attachment point is behind you and slide the belt down so it’s across the front of your ankle. You can elevate your ankle on a bench or step or leave on the floor. Step your foot forward to remove any slack in the belt, it should be tight above the ankle, just above the ankle joint in the front.
Keep your foot fully flat on the ground and move your shin forward, as the belt glides the front of the ankle backwards. Hold for 1-2 seconds and relax. Do 10-20 reps and switch legs if both sides are tight.
Feel tight/lack flexibility on the back of the ankle?
Sometimes your shin won’t roll forward because the calf muscles and Achilles tendon on the back of the joint are too short to allow the roll & glide motion within the joint. If this is the case it’s time to stretch. Research shows it takes about 3 minutes, 4-5 days a week for 10 weeks to effect a change in the length of soft tissue, and this should always be done after your workout. Importantly to really effect a change we also need to keep our weight on the outside of our foot, a towel can be a useful aid here.
Towel calf stretch
Stand with your foot on top of a rolled towel so your big toe is on the roll and your other toes drape off to the side.
Bend your knee forward while keeping your heel flat and square to the floor.
Hold for 3 minutes, you should feel across the back of your calf.
Tissue all around joint feels stiff/congested/locked?
Exercise and training impacts our muscles and connective tissue (fascia). It breaks down through micro-tears and then it heals, adapting and becoming stronger. Ideally our muscle and fascia fibres are arranged linearly allowing muscles to slide and glide freely. Too much training can send this process into overdrive, with too much damage for the linear arrangement to be maintained and instead a spiderweb of scar tissue is laid down as a repair. This creates fascial restrictions which effectively lock down the underlying muscle limiting their movement and creating areas of overload. To address these tissue glide restrictions we need massage/soft tissue therapy or to use a massage ball or foam roller. It’s worth investing the time having a massage or rolling your calves and feet to get these stiff spots moving again.
Calf foam roller:
Sit on the floor with a foam roller under one calf and cross your opposite leg on top. Put your hands behind your butt and lift your weight onto your hands and calf.
Roll your calf up and down on the roller and find spots that feel stiff. Flex and extend your ankle to better address specific tight spots.
Do this for 2 minutes a few days a week until your calves feel supple
Stability: mobility needs to be controlled
Getting unstuck is only the first part of the story. Moving without control creates instability and injury. If we free up a joint we need to learn how to use this new motion, with stability exercises and proprioception training. Building better stability around joints will tax muscle control around the joints but brings the benefit of decreased load though the joint itself, a good trade off. Muscles can rest and recover but joint wear and tear has bigger long term implications.
Ankle stability exercises include single leg balance challenges, plyometrics such as jumps and hops, and postural control tasks such as a farmer carry or suitcase carry.
Reference: Running Rewired: Reinvent your run for stability, Strength & Speed by Jay Dicharry.
A great book, which includes lots of really varied run specific strength workouts as well as a lot of theory.
For personalised advice or more information, please get in touch by calling Mary on 07909 551191, emailing on mary@marybrooking.co.uk or clicking on the link below.
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