How Your Lack of Ankle Range of Motion is Causing You Pain

 Understanding the Ankle's Role

Your ankles, often overlooked in daily health routines, play a crucial role in supporting your entire body. They act as shock absorbers, absorbing the impact of every step and preventing excessive stress on the joints above (or below). When your ankles are stiff or restricted, this shock absorption becomes less effective, leading to a domino effect of problems throughout your body.

The Domino Effect: How Ankle Immobility Impacts Other Joints

• Knee Pain: As the ankles struggle to absorb shock, the knees are forced to compensate. This can lead to conditions associated with increased prolonged stress at the knee/tendonitis.
• Hip Pain: When the knees are under stress, the hips are also affected. Hip flexor tightness, labral tears, and even hip bursitis can be linked to restricted ankle mobility.
• Low Back Pain: The strain on the hips can travel further up the body, leading to low back pain. Tight hamstrings and weak core muscles can also contribute to this issue.
• Foot Pain: Plantar fasciitis, a common condition causing heel pain, can be exacerbated by limited ankle mobility.

Your foot may try to compensate for restricted ankle mobility by decreasing/increasing the height of your arch. High arches limit hip internal rotation. Flat feet limit hip external rotation. You can see how that lack of hip mobility can negatively impact your other joint above or below (and this is without going into significant detail on your thoracic spine, scapula, shoulders, neck, etc).

The Importance of Proper Gait

Ankle mobility is essential for maintaining a proper gait. When your ankles are stiff, your walking pattern can become altered, leading to increased stress on the joints and muscles. This can contribute to conditions like shin splints, Achilles tendonitis, and even stress fractures.

How to Improve Ankle Mobility

• Regular Stretching: Incorporate ankle stretches into your daily routine. Simple exercises like calf raises, seated ankle circles, and towel stretches can help improve flexibility.
• Strengthening Exercises: Target the muscles around the ankle, such as the calf muscles and shin muscles. Exercises like toe raises, heel walks, and balance exercises can help.
• Footwear: Consider your footwear. Shoes that are too tight or offer inadequate support can contribute to ankle stiffness.
• Rest and Recovery: If you've experienced an ankle injury or have chronic ankle issues, ensure you get enough rest and recovery time.

Fun Fact: The human ankle can support approximately four times our body weight! This is important for running, jumping, and other high impact activities.

Conclusion

By prioritizing ankle mobility, you can not only reduce pain and discomfort but also improve your overall balance, coordination, and athletic performance. So, next time you're stretching, don't forget to give your ankles some love!

Sources:

• "Association between unilateral functional ankle instability, limited ankle dorsiflexion range of motion and low back pain": https://revistas.um.es/sportk/article/download/526661/337951/2048081
• "The effect of ankle dorsiflexion range of motion on the occurrence of low back pain": https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21214345/
• "The influence of ankle joint range of motion and muscle strength on low back pain": https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/fulltext/2012/08000/effect_of_range_of_motion_on_muscle_strength_and.17.aspx