Unlock Ankle Mobility in 3 Minutes

Today we're going to break down ankle pain, figure out why it's happening, how it's happening, and give you a couple of moves to fix it. First things first, let's go test it out. So whether it's basketball or pickleball or tennis, if you have an ankle injury, it's not fun. We got to test out where the ankle is stressed out at. Now, it could be the front of the ankle here where there's an impingement in the bone of the shin meeting the talus, the bone in the foot, or it could just be a tight Achilles. For us to best figure out the fix, we have to figure out what the cause is. I like to put my foot against a wall, come off about a foot, one of your feet from the wall, and then you're going to push your knee as far over your toes as possible. Try to make sure the knee doesn't go inside the toe as you're doing it. Now, if you feel any pinching or pain in the front of the ankle joint, that means that that part of the joint is impinged. If there's nothing there and you just have trouble keeping your heel down and it keeps lifting, That means that your calf and your Achilles are stiff. Because I have no idea what your issue is, we're going to solve for both. So for the first move, we're going to open up the front of the ankle. We're going to do what's called a distraction. We're going to pull the joint apart lightly. So I'm going to pull my shin away from my ankle bone and push my foot down. This will create a space in the front or a gap, and I'm going to push my knee over my toe. You would recreate this about 5 times and see if you can get more of the knee to go over the toe without that pain. Next, we're going to mobilize the ankle joint. So we're going to go every way. We're going to do 5 circles one way, 5 the other way, and then 5 front to back, mobilizing the joint from every single angle and each side. Last but not least, we're going to do a downward dog calf raise and stretch. When you calf raise, it releases your body's nerve system and allows the stretching of the Achilles and calf to actually happen. You want to go with a 5-second calf raise, 30-second stretch, and then repeat it 3 to 4 times in a row as long as your shoulders don't get too tired. So I'm going to raise this calf up, flex and hold, and then stretch my heel to the ground. Now let's say we fast forward 30 seconds. You can do another 5-second calf raise and then stretch your heel to the ground for another 30 seconds. Again, you do this 3 to 4 times in a row and then switch to the other side. Last but not least, retest the ankle. You should have improved range of motion in the knee going over the toe without the impingement in the front of the joint or in the back of the Achilles. Now, if this video brought you value, don't suck. Be a person that's like helpful and go share it with other people. Thanks.