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Training Blog

Ankle movement for improved performance and pain free running Part 1

Tuesday, December 02, 2014

Are you like me and enjoy a bit of running or are you looking for an event the week after your last half or full marathon?

If you fall into either category or have experience niggling or reoccurring pain in ankles, knees, or hips and lower back then please read on.

Your ability to move well within the joints that make up your foot and ankle will determine how your body distributes force and whether or not your muscles handle the stress you’re putting on them.

Pain that just occurs from repetitive stress (running) and isn’t caused by an impact or fall should be a warning sign something isn’t right. The answer could be as simple creating better movement within your feet.

Here is a couple of things to try to see how you match-up:

  1. Stand with your feet about 2 inches back from the wall, can you slowly move your knee’s over your toes and touch the wall?
  2. Can you stand on both feet with your weight evenly distributed over both and lift up your big toe with lifting the remaining toes on each foot?
  3. Face a mirror and stand on one leg, have a look in the mirror top see if you need to lean or compensate to stand without losing balance.

How did you go? If you found one or all of those challenging there may be something we can work on. See the videos below for more info on each test. I will go into more detail in part two of this article  Running is a great to improve your fitness and unnecessary pain and injuries with only add to your frustration.