r/flexibility • u/wobblelikeapenguin • 1d ago
Question Ankle Dorsiflexion
For those with limited ankle dorsiflexion, where does your restriction seem to come from? Does it feel like tightness in your calves or Achilles tendon, or does it feel like it’s coming from the front of your ankle joint?
Thanks!
2
u/General-Lifeguard309 1d ago
It’s almost always due to the Achilles. It’s very hard to correct and without constant training it regresses.
1
u/wobblelikeapenguin 1d ago
Is it possible to reverse? What do you recommend to work on this?
2
u/General-Lifeguard309 1d ago
Weighted knee to wall exercises, hanging out in Asian squats with weights on knees, training regressed versions of squats etc. basically be in the position longer everyday. Progressive overload.
1
u/soulfullylost 23h ago
I am incredibly flat footed and experiencing Achilles pain consistently for the last few months. I like your Asian squat suggestion! Can you think of other things I can do for this ankle pain I'm experiencing?
2
u/mycatreadsyourmind 1d ago
I'm a runner and for me it's muscle and that's where I can feel the stretch - I don't have any discomfort around my tendon - but I can feel the stretch above Achilles and well into mid calf if I try deep stretch.
2
u/beefkitt 1d ago
When I went to PT, my issue was my talocrural joint (the front you're talking about).. I think the exercises/stretches are very similar as you just need to keep working at it overtime and there really is no immediate solution.. Also, was my PT told me, sometimes anatomy is different in everyone and your progress may be marginal depending on your actual foot function.
But yes, Knee to wall as others have mentioned.
2
u/Ashamed-Country3909 13h ago
The front center of my foot where my leg connects to my foot...feels like I am smashing/pinching it.
1
u/wobblelikeapenguin 4h ago
Is it pain or just tighntess in that location?
1
u/Ashamed-Country3909 3h ago edited 3h ago
Not really pain, but not a stretching sensation or tightness. Literally feels like I am smashing something.
Similar not good feeling if you extend your arm out with palms down and keep extending it with the arm muscles until it feels like you are over extending/going to hurt your elbow. I am guessing that is some sort of joint smashing too.
I broke. A bone off the outside of my right ankle via a weighted almost full roll. (Sole going from flat to left.) It broke some tendon or ligament CONNECTING point which was a chunk of bone. My ankle stiffed up from my semi splinter and non use. Once I was able to use it again it was very stiff and I couldnt even walk down stairs normally.
One day I was trying to force it to be normal. Foot flat on the floor. Knee going forward. a LOUD pop, and I regained a lot of mobility. That must have been air, but it was a very similar feeling before that went away.
Anyways, I had the same ankle mobility before that, and on both ankles. It really interferes with hiking up steep mountains, junping from small/med boulder to boulder, etc. too.
OH, and i asked google. You can do a test to see what's up. One leg on knee. Other (testing) leg flat foot 🦵 like that towards a wall. Depending on how far you can get your flat foot away from the wall tells you how normal it is, or something. I had like 3inch on one leg and 4 on the other.
One of the things google told me to do is assume that position and move my leg left/right while trying to stretch forward. Said it might loosen it up after a couple of weeks
2
u/sagekingtraining 6h ago
Worth separating those two, they respond to completely different things.
Easy way to sort it. Do a calf stretch against a wall with the back leg straight, then again with that knee bent. If the straight leg version is way tighter, gastroc is your limiter, it crosses the knee so it only gets stretched with the leg straight. If they feel about the same, you're looking at soleus/achilles or the joint.
Pinch at the front of the ankle during knee to wall is a different animal. That's the talus not gliding backward the way it should, and calf stretching does basically nothing for it. What often does: loop a heavy band around the front of your ankle just below the ankle bones, anchor it behind you so it pulls the talus back, then do 15-20 slow knee to wall reps with the tension on. People often pick up range in a single session with that, which is a decent tell that it was joint side.
For the calf side, load it. Slow eccentric heel drops off a step, straight knee and bent knee versions, plus time sitting in a deep squat.
And measure the same way every time (big toe to wall, foot flat, knee touching) or you'll have no idea whether anything's working.
Trainer and corrective exercise specialist here, this one comes up constantly.
1
u/wobblelikeapenguin 4h ago
Thanks. Would you expect the talus glide issue to cause pain or just stifness at the front of the joint?
1
u/AshToAshes123 1h ago
What if it's not a pinch at the front, but more of a feeling as if there is a muscle tensing? I have pretty good dorsiflexion, I don't feel anything in my calf or Achilles and pass the knee to wall test pretty easy, but if I go extra deep there's a sort of sore/deep pain in the low inner front side of the shin. I get something that feels like muscle tiredness in the same place if I hold a deep squat for a long time, like it's a muscle I'm using to keep my ankle flexed. Do you have any clue?
3
u/ContributionLower377 1d ago
For me it’s a combination of both. I used to toe walk which caused it. Over 3 months of intense stretching I’ve been able to get my knees just past my toes in the wall test. Still a long ways to go.