[headline style=”1″ align=”center” headline_tag=”h2″]What the Manual Physical Therapists Didn’t Tell You About Ankle Mobility
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Ankle mobility, especially dorsiflexion, is important for many tasks of life such as walking, squatting, running, going up and down stairs, or even swinging a golf club. When the ankle isn’t moving optimally common ailments such as plantar fasciitis, knee pain, and even lower back back troubles can become apparent. For this reason it should be investigated in the majority of your patients but be sure to not make this crucial mistake. See below.
[headline style=”1″ align=”center” headline_tag=”h2″]The Number One Mistake Made With Ankle Mobility…
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The most common mistake is assessing and treating talocrual joint motion when the talus is in neutral. Talar neutral is when the talus is congruent on both sides of the tibia and fibular malleoli with palpation. This is OK for table assessments and treatment, but don’t forget that your talus is rarely in neutral during function. For instance, when we take a step with our right foot our subtalar joint is pronating while the ankle goes through dorsiflexion. Conversely, the ankle is dorsiflexing while the subtalar joint is supinating as we propel off our leg in gait.
[images style=”0″ image=”http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scottgraypt.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F02%2FDepositphotos_46110259_s-2015-300×200.jpg” width=”300″ caption=”Running%20is%20a%20perfect%20example%20of%20the%20ankle%20going%20through%20dorsiflexion%20with%20the%20foot%20pronating%20and%20supinating” align=”left” top_margin=”0″ full_width=”Y”]
” Many physical therapists treat and assess the talorcrual joint only with the foot in neutral which is the number one error”
[headline style=”1″ align=”center” headline_tag=”h2″]Conclusion
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Ankle mobility in dorsiflexion rarely occurs when the talus is congruent between the malleoli. This is the most common mistakes that I see among other clinicians and that I have made clinically. You will increase your outcomes if you can discern if the patient needs more ankle mobility when the subtalar joint is pronating or supinating. Be on the look out for the next blog where I will show you exercises that I use to increase mobility of the ankle in these positions.
Have you found this same issue in your practice?
Dedicated to Your Success,
Dr. Scott Gray
P.S. The talocrual joint is usually lacking dorsiflexion when the subtalar joint is going through supination
