Foot and Ankle Complex : The Base of Better Movement

If you’ve been training with us for a while, you’ve probably heard or felt our focus on the foot and ankle. From discussions on what shoes to wear, to the way we cue your foot in a squat we ensure your stability is taken care of to maximize your training. The foot is the ONLY point of contact to the ground in most movements we perform in the gym. If it isn’t stable, it compromises the rest of the body in a way that can, and eventually will, result in injury. You wouldn’t build a skyscraper on soft sand, would you? 

So let’s talk about what we do to stabilize the first point of contact. Below is the anatomy of the foot and ankle complex. It is composed of 26 bones coming together for 33 joints, stabilized and supported by over 100 muscles, ligaments, and tendons. It is one of the most complex structures in the body, but most of society cares more about the fashion around it than the function that underpins how you move around for the rest of your life.

This image was sourced from: https://www.modpodpodiatry.com.au/foot-anatomy/

This complexity does not mean we need to do anything fancy to train our feet and ankles, but it does mean we need to be steadfast and consistent in our training. When you first come in we are looking at lateral ankle stability (side to side) and ankle mobility when the knee comes over the toe via the angle of your shin. We often perform exercises like lateral banded walking, single leg marching and light plyometric hopping, foam roller balance exercises, and directed ankle work via the calf raise and anterior tibialis raises. These, among hundreds of other strengthening exercises, make your ankle more resilient to the high forces that life throws at us. 

Watch us coach the squat, we are probably coaching and cueing the foot to make an arch, or drive the big toe into the floor. Why is that? It is to take advantage of something called the windlass mechanism. This is a mechanical trick your foot uses to become a rigid lever. It involves the plantar fascia, a thick band of tissue running from your heel to your toes. When you drive your big toe into the ground and pull it upward (extension), it tightens the plantar fascia. This pulls the heel closer to the toes, shortening the foot and heightening the arch. This "locks" the bones of the foot together, turning a soft, shock-absorbing foot into a rock-solid platform for power transfer. 

Power transfer is the goal. In order to safely train the knees and the hips, the ankle cannot accidentally absorb forces that are supposed to transfer to the leg, hips, trunk, and arms in any given movement. So, now that we have a stable ankle, what about making it mobile? Mobility is the next most important quality following ankle stability, as it allows the rest of the body to orient itself above the newly solidified structure. If you have a wobbly ankle, all the mobility in the world won’t stabilize the body above it, but a stable ankle can take advantage of a mobile one. Mobility in the ankle is most important in quad-dominant exercises like the squat or lunge where the knee must translate over the toe. If the knee cannot adequately position itself over the foot to allow the quadricep muscle to take the force, the knee itself must either take that force, or push it up to the hips for the glutes to accept the load. This often results in a “hinge” compensation in a squat or lunge. If we continue to work on the ankle’s mobility, it serves to improve your knee and hip health, the strength and loadability of your squat patterns, and keep you safe when you need a strong ankle outside the gym.

It takes a lot to build awareness, strength, and dynamic ability in the ankle, but we will never stop focusing on it! So, drive your big toe into the ground, brace your core, and we will see you in your next session.