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Author Topic: How do you increase your ankle dorsiflexion?  (Read 16142 times)

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Dreyth

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How do you increase your ankle dorsiflexion?
« on: February 20, 2016, 10:02:09 am »
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I'd like to improve mine just a bit more. Personally I am not a flexible person at all, however, it does not feel like it is my calves that is the limiting factor. Rather, it feels like this: Make a fist, and cock your wrist back as far as possible. Is it your forearm that's limiting your ROM? Nope! That doesn't happen unless your fingers are extended, at which point you feel a stretch in your forearm.

I feel like my ankles are the former. I dorsiflex all the way and hit a wall well before my calves are stretched. Is there a way to improve ROM past this point? I remember reading somewhere the stretching the ankle will actually help this somehow. Don't know if there's any truth to it.
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gukl

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Re: How do you increase your ankle dorsiflexion?
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2016, 11:19:37 am »
+1
You mean like a mechanical block in the front of the ankle? Particularly worse in people who have had lots of ankle sprains etc e.g. Basketball players.

Look up the mulligan ankle technique. Kelly starret has loads of stuff on it, it seems the best way to get past the 'block' in the front of the ankle, short of surgical debridement etc.

Basically you use a resistance band to pull the tibia/fibula posteriorly while dorsiflexing, creating more space in the front of the joint, this allows you to get past the block and actually stretch then Soleus/gastroc
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Dreyth

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Re: How do you increase your ankle dorsiflexion?
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2016, 11:48:27 am »
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Quote from: gukl on February 20, 2016, 11:19:37 am
Basically you use a resistance band to pull the tibia/fibula posteriorly while dorsiflexing, creating more space in the front of the joint, this allows you to get past the block and actually stretch then Soleus/gastroc

Will this help me when squatting and not having a resistance band doing that for me? In other words, does this have a lasting effect on getting past the mechanical block?

I can stretch my calves if I want. But when I squat, I never feel a stretch in them. Not even close. That makes me think calf flexibility is not what's limiting my ankle dorsiflexion.
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gukl

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Re: How do you increase your ankle dorsiflexion?
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2016, 12:06:31 pm »
+1
Yeah, I'm not sure how exactly but it's defiiniely improved my ankle dorsiflexion over time - ive never used the bands while squatting it would probably make me fall over.

Otherwise there's always oly shoes + extra heel lifts to cheat better dorsiflexion
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LBSS

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Re: How do you increase your ankle dorsiflexion?
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2016, 12:51:27 pm »
+1
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gwgm3s2EQ0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gwgm3s2EQ0</a>
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T0ddday

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Re: How do you increase your ankle dorsiflexion?
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2016, 03:27:06 pm »
+1
I second what the others posted.. the band does help. The idea is it pulls the tibia back from the restriction and allows you to stretch the front of angle (i doubt this - i think its neural but who cares - it works!).

I recommend the following.   Test your dorsiflexion on both legs.  I suffer from this problem a lot.  Short tibias, flat feet, long femurs, basically worse build for squatting...  when i do this i am about 5" and 6" on left and right.  Then foam roll, massage, and stretch the hell out of your calves/achilles.  Doing this gives me closer to 5.5" and 6.5" which suggests my poor left is not just from calves and achilles but from front of ankle...  Not surprisingly the resistance band technique helps my left far more than my right and gets me up to about 6" and 6.75"...   

Two other things.  Buy an adjustable slant board.  Also as far as helping you in squats, realize that if you squat well through the forefoot (not purely heels) the weight of the bar will help, so you will actually get more out of that than the wall test...  also dynamically your calf flexibility will increase rom a lot...  but yes.  Slant board.  Great tool.
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Dreyth

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Re: How do you increase your ankle dorsiflexion?
« Reply #6 on: February 20, 2016, 03:49:39 pm »
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^^ Did you feel a mechanical block in the front of your ankles before increasing their flexibility though?

The band pulls the tibia away... but what about when you squat without the band? Will there no longer be a mechanical block somehow?

Going to give this stuff a shot.
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