Two moves to fix ankle pain and duck-toed walking. First, mobilize the ankle and stretch the Achilles to clear restriction. Second, use a band under your big toe and step over it to retrain your big toe to fire, then retest your walk.
If you're walking like a duck and want to be more athletic and not have ankle pain, follow these 2 steps. Step 1 is mobilize the ankle. The ankle can get restricted in the front or tight in the back. If that happens, you're going to twist your knee internally and rotate the tibia and fibula inward. You want to make sure that this is cleared out, so I like to put my finger in front of the shin bones and clear out space so that it can drive forward, and then stretch out your Achilles. Then We need to stabilize the foot. Now your foot has a tripod of stability. The ball of your foot underneath your big toe, ball of your foot underneath your pinky toe, and your heel. They all work together to create this tripod of stability. Usually if you're walking like a duck, this big toe isn't firing. This is called a big toe step over. The band is underneath just my big toe. I'm going to step over and then lift up my back heel, making sure that the big toe is making contact the entire time. Now, if you are a duck-toed person, this is actually a really difficult move. After that, retest. You should be able to use your big toe and walk straight. You're welcome.
Touch Your Toes in 6 Minutes | Release Muscular Guarding for Better Flexibility
