Today’s blog post follows on from last week. Today we are giving you an easy and simple method to test your own ankle mobility at home to see if it is something you can work on in your own time to improve your squatting performance in PT sessions and classes!
Ankle Mobility
One of the huge limiting factors within someones squat pattern, often unbeknown to them, is their ankle mobility!
A good way to see if ankles are affecting your squat is to perform a squat. Common signs are not being able to keep your chest up and falling forwards and the obvious tightness within the back of the ankle.
How Do I Properly Test My Ankle Mobility?
The easiest way to test out your ankle mobility is using the following simple test:
This test is called the half-kneeling dorsiflexion test. This specific test has been used numerous times in research to assess ankle mobility. Physical Therapist Dr. Mike Reinold recommended this screen for its ability to provide reliable results without the need for a trained specialist.
Find a wall and kneel close to it with your shoes off. Use a tape measure and place your big toe 5 inches from the wall. From this position, push your knee forward attempting to touch the wall with your knee. Your heel must stay in contact with the ground.
To Pass:
- Knee can touch the wall at 5 or more inch distance
- Heels remain firmly planted
- Knees Aligned with Feet
- No Pain noted
Fail:
- Knee Unable to touch wall at 5 inch distance
- Heels pull off from ground
- Knees collapsed inwards (Valgus collapse) in order to touch wall
- Pain noted
If you have any ticks in the “Fail” section you have some level of Dorsiflexion Restriction. This could either be a joint restriction or soft tissue issue, however it could also be both.
Have a go at the test and find out next week ways to improve your ankle mobility for better squats!
Next week we will go through how to improve your ankle mobility!
Jack Coxall