Seven Drills to Improve Dorsiflexion in the Ankle

Seven Drills to Improve Dorsiflexion in the Ankle
Written by Kim McLaughlin

Last week, I talked about the importance of dorsiflexion for squatting, sprinting, building strength and avoiding injury.

So how do you know if this is an area where you are lacking and, if you are lacking or need improvement, what can you do about it?

There are a few simple tests you can do to see if your ankle mobility is where it needs to be.

1. Try air squatting a few times. If you have issues hanging out in the bottom of a squat because it is difficult to balance there with your heels planted on the floor, this could be an indication of poor ankle mobility.

2. Stand with your feet together and try to lift the balls of your feet off the ground without leaning back. If you cannot, it is likely that you have some room to improve your dorsiflexion.

3. Take a knee near a wall. Place the foot of the leg that is not kneeling and place it about five inches away from the wall. Lean into that front leg. Without moving your foot, try to get your knee to touch the wall. If it touches, your dorsiflexion is not too bad. If it doesn’t quite reach, this might be a good area to focus on.

If you passed all of the tests, congratulations, you can focus your mobility efforts elsewhere! If you struggled with one or more of these, here are seven simple drills and stretches that you can do to improve your dorsiflexion:

1. Perform self-myofacial release using a foam roller or kettlebell on this area. Place your achilles on the top of the foam roller or kettlebell handle and move your foot from side to side. If you would like to apply more pressure to that particular area, place one foot on top of the other to do this. Gradually work your way up the calf moving the foot and the leg from side to side to hit both the lateral and medial parts. Spend between one and two minutes on each leg.

2. Next, sit on the ground with your legs straight and flex your toes back toward your hips. Do this about thirty times.

3. You can also place the ball of your foot on small five pound plates with your heel touching the ground. Bend your knees forward and hold for about five to ten seconds. Release and repeat this movement about thirty times.

4. Get down on one knee and place a PVC pipe standing vertical near the pinky toe of the outside of your foot that is still on the ground. Flex your ankle so your knee goes to the outside of the PVC pipe and hold there for three to five seconds. Repeat this twenty times on each leg.

5. To make that last drill a little spicier, you can use the same kettlebell that you used for the myofacial release and place it on top of the knee that is up. Sending the knee over the toes or outside of the vertical PVC pipe with the added kettlebell weight will help you increase the dorsiflexion in the ankle thanks to the added pressure of the kettlebell. If holding both the PVC pipe and the kettlebell is a bit challenging switch off and just concentrate on using one thing at a time.

6. Using a monster band, wrap it around a post and step into it so the band is at the crease of the ankle. Facing away from the post, place the ball of your foot on a 25 or 45 pound plate, keeping your heel on the ground. Flex and extend that knee. For added distraction, you can also do the kneeling kettlebell drill (#5) with the monster band around the ankle as well.

7. Starting in a bear crawl position, walk your hands back behind your body so you end in a crab walking position. Once there, walk you way back into the bear crawl. Perform this total movement ten times.

Try out one or all of these drills to help increase the range of motion in your ankle and improve positioning in your squat or your ability to sprint. Let us know which one is your favorite.