Exercising solves a lot of your problems. It keeps you fit and makes living easy daily. When you work out, your body gets flexible and used to doing physical activity, making it easier for you to do the chores. If you want to walk a lot without feeling any stiffness in your ankle, take time for your ankle mobility every day. It helps you keep moving without risking ankle sprain and stiffness. What is ankle mobility and why is it important? Keep reading.

What Is Ankle Mobility?

Ankle mobility means the flexibility of the ankle and surrounding muscles and tendons. When you have a flexible ankle, one or both, you will be able to move your ankle with more flexibility and have a greater range of motion.

Ankle mobility helps prevent accidents. It makes your joints flexible so you can walk easily without risking your knee and hip joints weakening. It also helps you in your daily physical activities or if you want to enhance your sports performance, daily exercising can boost your ankle mobility and strength, which prevents your ankles from spraining or stiffness.

If you feel pain in your ankle, or you just want to perform better at sports or you feel your ankle stiff after walking, then doing ankle mobility exercises will help improve ankle strength and flexibility.

Why do Ankle Stretches Matter?

Taking out time for your ankle mobility daily may help with ankle injury prevention. If you are feeling sore, an ankle stretch may be an answer to your soreness. But if you are injured or have your ankle sprained, then it is better to check in with a doctor before starting anything new.

But ankle stretches may help you get rid of soreness you feel from time to time, or ankle pain that hits after walking or doing sports. Ankle stretches can enhance ankle mobility and hence increase your range of motion, and also help you get through your daily activities without troubling your ankles.

When doing ankle stretches, make sure to warm up for 5 to 10 minutes before you start. It means walking or indoor cycling. However, if you are continuously feeling pain in your ankle, or you feel something is wrong, make sure to consult a doctor for better advice.

What Is Ankle Dorsiflexion?

The movement of bringing the top of the foot closer to the shin is called ankle dorsiflexion. This motion happens when the toes are lifted upward, like when you lift your foot off the ground while keeping the heel down or point your toes toward your knee.Ankle mobility exercises are crucial because ankle dorsiflexion limitations can result in several functional and athletic restrictions. If there is limited ankle dorsiflexion, physical therapy, stretching, and specific exercises can help.

What Causes Poor Dorsiflexion?

The most frequent cause of poor ankle dorsiflexion is an injury or previous surgery. When it comes to major injuries like fractures, ruptures of the Achilles tendon, and ligament tears from acute sprains, this makes sense. Anything that necessitates a period of foot immobilization can result in a loss of ankle mobility.

In addition, regular use of high-heeled shoes, a lack of mobility exercises, and weakness in the dorsiflexor muscles all contribute to limited mobility. Dorsiflexion may also be impacted by structural elements such as misaligned joints or flat feet.

You can improve dorsiflexion by strengthening the anterior tibialis, stretching the calves, mobilizing the ankle joint, and applying foam rolling to alleviate tension to avoid knee or hip issues caused by limited ankle mobility. Up ahead, ankle mobility stretches and strength exercises are mentioned which will help improve ankle dorsiflexion.

12 Stretch and Strength Moves for Ankle Mobility:

Ankle mobility exercises can be easily incorporated into your daily lives because they are easy to do and you can do them anywhere. Here are some ankle stretch and strength moves that you can add to your daily routine for better ankle mobility:

Ankle circles:

Put a rolled towel under your ankle. Turn your ankle in a circular motion, 10 times clockwise and 10 times anti-clockwise. Make sure to roll your ankles and foot, not your legs.

Single leg balance:

Do this exercise on a flat surface. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart. Hold your arms to your sides and then raise one foot, and balance on one foot. Try keeping steady for a few seconds. Repeat 1 to 2 times for both feet.

Toe-to-heel walks:

Stand where you can walk 10 steps forward. The first walk should be on the balls of your feet, heels off the floor. And then walk on your heels, toes off the floor.

Standing heel lifts:

Start by standing near the wall. Place your left leg behind the right one. Keep your left heel on the floor while bending your right knee.

Achilles stretch:

Stand near the wall. Keeping the front leg straight, place your palms on the wall and take a step back. Try to keep both heels flat on the ground while bending the other leg. After that, push your hips forward until your ankle and calf stretch. Hold the position for 30 seconds and repeat 3 times for each leg.

Towel stretch:

Sit on the floor and extend your legs. Wrap a towel around both your toes and pull slowly until you feel the stretch. Repeat 3 times.

Standing calf stretch:

Place one foot in front of you with your toes pointed up against the wall while you stand in front of it. Lean forward until your foot and calf start to stretch. After 30 seconds of holding, switch feet.

Toe raises and heel drops:

Stand on the bottom step and raise your heels while putting your weight on the balls of your feet. Do 10 lifts, and repeat 2 to 3 times.

Cross leg ankle stretches:

Sit on a chair. Cross your left leg on your right knee. Then use your hand to bend your toes and ankle downward until you feel the stretch.

Walking lunges:

Step forward with one leg while bending that knee at a 90-degree angle, and lower the back knee at the same time, making sure your thigh is parallel to the ground. Hold for a few seconds, then repeat for the other leg. Do 10 lunges every day for each leg.

Side lunge:

Place your feet hip-width apart as you stand. Take a wide stride to the side with one leg, bending the knee and moving your weight onto it, while keeping the other leg straight. Lower your hips until the straight leg's inner thigh feels stretched. To get back to the beginning position, push through the bent leg's heel.

Chair pose:

Stand straight in mountain pose. Inhale while raising both of your arms overhead, palms inward. As you exhale, bend both of your knees slightly, working toward getting your thighs parallel to the ground. Your torso should make a right angle with the tops of your thighs.

Final Words:

Ankle strength and flexibility are crucial for daily activities and have a significant impact on overall health. It is especially helpful for walkers as foot and ankle injuries are very common. Ankle mobility can be enhanced by doing the stretch and strength moves mentioned above. Ankle mobility exercises are a great help in reducing the risk of injury and improving overall health by increasing the range of motion.