Ankle range of motion

[OakLeaf]

Okay, that does it. Attempting the Karen Voight exercise in this week's LA Times Health Section, that is. I usually enjoy her exercises - occasionally need some practice or strengthening to do them properly - but this is the first one that I've been structurally unable to do. My ankles don't dorsiflex beyond about, oh, maybe 10 degrees. I'm sure that's at least part of the reason I have recurrent Achilles tendon soreness. It takes quite a bit of concentration (and tibialis anterior) to pick my toes up enough to get a midfoot strike when I run, too.

I do stretch my calves and Achilles pretty much daily, but the ROM hasn't improved a bit. It's a problem for me when I set up the brake pedal on my motorcycle. In fact, my first sportbike was the first time I learned that my ankles don't bend as much as "normal" people's. The weird thing is, I'm pretty flexible in most of my other joints.

Am I just stuck this way, or will stretching differently or more frequently help me increase my ankle ROM?

[alpinerabbit]

You can try and sit down on your heels asian-style regularly. Dunno about limited range of motion, but that exercise is extreme. It's even more difficult than downward-facing dog, with the elbows on the ground, so no easy stuff for someone with calves/hamstrings even slightly shortened from cycling.

[emily_in_nc]

I checked out the exercise and thought "that doesn't look so hard", so I just moseyed over to the living room rug to try it. My heels don't even come CLOSE to touching the floor. So it's not just you, Oakleaf! Wow....

So, how many here can actually do this exercise?!? I'm very curious!

[malkin]

Historically, my ankles have not been strong; when I was 19 sprained my ankle standing in line at the bank.

My favorite ankle exercise is to lie down with feet in the air and write the letters of the alphabet in the sky or on the ceiling.

You can write the letters as big and loopy or as small and boxy as you like. Sometimes I do the letter with one foot and the mirror image with the other foot.

Maybe I just like it because I can do it in the bathtub.

[Eden]

Not I! I'm pretty flexible overall... I can touch my palms to the ground without bending my knees (flexible hamstrings I guess), but my calves are too tight to do that and get my feet flat on the floor.

[VeloVT]

I could do this (had boyfriend look at picture and confirm that I was at a similar angle -- he said I was a little steeper actually). I have somewhat hyperflexible hamstrings, though. I can place my palms flat on the floor, several inches behind my heels. I once had a yoga teacher give me an unsolicited article called "Yoga for the Overly Flexible." I danced for 13 years...

BUT... I felt it in my calves and actually had to work to get my heels to the ground (they didn't just go there). My calves have gotten tight in the past few years (causing a few running injuries), and my hips have become a mess since I started cycling and running seriously, but my hamstrings are still pretty limber I guess.

Stretching can continue to improve flexibility as you age but you have to devote a fair amount of time to improve (probably no less than 30-45 minutes 4-5 times per week). Just stretching for a few minutes after a workout will help keep stiffness at bay, but probably won't improve flexibiltiy.

I have a running book that touts AIS (active isolated stretching, done with a rope), as being revolutionary. I haven't done it much myself, but I've done it a little bit when I was running a lot and I found that the calf exercises involving wrapping the rope around one's foot and either pulling back or rolling to the inside or outside did do an excellent job stretching small muscles in the calf that can be hard to reach. I remember when I was little and my ballet teacher was trying to develop ankle/foot flexibility (which depends a good deal on calf flexibility, I guess), we always worked with partners, who might actually sit on our pointed feet...

[emily_in_nc]

Not I! I'm pretty flexible overall... I can touch my palms to the ground without bending my knees (flexible hamstrings I guess), but my calves are too tight to do that and get my feet flat on the floor.

Me too, Eden. I can do the palm-touching going straight down, but not the heels down in this exercise, with elbows on floor.

[OakLeaf]

Yeah - that's what gets me. Straight down, I can put my palms flat and bend my elbows halfway. It's only my ankles that just don't bend. And I really don't feel any strain in my calf muscles trying this one, it's way down south in the tendons. Anyway, I'm glad it's not just me

[Becky]

I have a running book that touts AIS (active isolated stretching, done with a rope), as being revolutionary. I haven't done it much myself, but I've done it a little bit when I was running a lot and I found that the calf exercises involving wrapping the rope around one's foot and either pulling back or rolling to the inside or outside did do an excellent job stretching small muscles in the calf that can be hard to reach.

I have an AIS book that is wonderful, but dang, the lower body routine alone takes something like 45 minutes. So I tend to pick and choose exercises, depending on what hurts. I do the IT band/hip flexor exercises a lot. AIS definitely makes a difference if you make a routine of it- something that I managed to keep up for all of a week, I think.

[TahoeDirtGirl]

Could also be caused by tight hamstrings...the only way I am able to get my hamstrings stretched to my satisfaction is to have someone stretch them actively with me. I had it done today by my therapist and I feel like a million bucks. Tight hamstrings would pull your ankle up as well because it can't get the length it needs to let your ankle touch the ground.

I jammed my ankle last Oct and am still trying to get it to work right. It's finally getting there. One of the things I have to do is invert/evert the ankle on the balance board as well as calf strengthening exercises. Here all this time I thought mine were strong enough from riding. I guess I thought wrong. The assessment exercises they did were ridiculous. I was ashamed and said quietly, "you do believe me when I tell you I ride 37 miles round trip to work?" The therapist goes..."we had a guy in here that rides centuries at least twice a month and you did better than he did" Made me feel a little better