So the problem is that I have terrible ankle mobility which is preventing me from doing exercises like squats and I want some suggestions on what I can do to improve my ankle mobility, thanks.
ankle mobility drills. Google “Eric Cressey ankle mobility”
Hey watermelon buddy,
My ankles are pretty messed up. Before I do anything I do this:
-foam roll plantar fascia with baseball and PVC pipe. And ten foam roll my calves.
- 3 sets of 20 reps of knee to wall drill
- eccentric heel raises, more reps for my weaker/shitty achilles
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Thanks for the reply’s I will look at Eric Cressey’s ankle mobility later today.
I used to foam roll my calves, ‘achilles’ and plantar fascia but I stopped doing it after about 8 weeks because I wasn’t feeling the pain anymore and any remaining pain was hard to squeeze out I think I already got everything out of foam rolling that I can.
Out of curiosity, how could you do eccentric heel raises? the name seems to contradict itself, I’m not trying to be rude I just don’t get it.
that is an unusualy specific complaint.
if you noticed a problem in your tendon then you probably already have an injury.
to say your mobility is terrible to me is code for the common symptom of achilles tendinopathy, stiffness in the tendon when getting out of bed
I just checked achilles tendinopathy and it seems I do have it and yes, upon rising and early in the morning I do have exceptional stiffness in the tendon although no pain, it is very hard to stretch and quite painful to stretch early in the morning and it seems as stiff as a block of wood, later in the day it is easier to stretch although it may just be a coincidence.
I googled Achilles Tendinopathy and I found a picture of someone doing a calve raise who I assume has Achilles Tendinopathy and the person’s foot looks just like mine, here’s the image:
What would you suggest I do?
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Someone please help me out with my ankle mobility
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I don’t know if you just have tight calves or you actually have some kind of inflammation in your Achilles tendon, but as long as it is not painful you should do ankle mobility exercises throughout the day (google some) and tibialis anterior exercises to strengthen the muscles opposing your calves. I would also recommend wearing shoes with a flat sole (zero drop) so your Achilles tendon will get an extended stretch.
Thanks for the reply’s
@ smallmike
Just today it really has gotten to the point where it is painful to do the soleus stretch I can’t do it anymore everyday it was getting more and more painful to do but today it’s just got to the point where I can’t do it and I don’t think it is a tight soleus issue, as eremesu suggested I think I have achilles tendinopathy. I’ll have a look at flat sole shoes btw
If anyone wants to know the stretch I was doing was basically extending the knee BUT with a twist, I raised the front of my foot up against a step on the stairs and would bend my knee forward and would feel a stretch in the soleus.
I just realised that whenever I do flat (foot level with the ground) knee extension I can’t feel any stretching in the lower leg as people describe, all I feel is stiffness, like cable wires jammed in a bunch of gears of a machine.
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Google strassburg sock.
Probably wont cure it, but I have found it most certainly helps.
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The strassburg sock is pretty much what I was doing, stretching the achilles through dorsiflexion although the ‘exercise’ I was doing was far more effective, I would use a step, as in, a step from stairs you would use to go up stairs and I would raise the front of my foot as you would in dorsiflexion and put it against a step and perform knee flexion and I would feel a deep stretch in my achilles although in the long term I found the exercise dangerous, ineffective and unnecessary and not helpful to the problem I was facing.
If anyone on this forum has knowledge of achilles tendinopathy and would be able to help me with my situation please do, if you have any useful and valuable information that you could share through links please do, thanks 
A strassburg sock will give you a prolonged, low level stretch (usually people wear them while they are sleeping). You were giving yourself a short duration, high intensity stretch. Aggressive achilles stretching can make even healthy people sore and the pain is usually not felt until much later, so you don’t realize you are overdoing it until it is too late. I’ve made this mistake when stretching my own achilles several times.
Is it actually possible to fix achilles tendinopathy and improve my ankle mobility drastically by simply stretching my achilles? From what I’ve read exercises like the strassburg sock simply prevent further achilles tendonitis not fix the key issue which is pain and ankle mobility, I personally don’t have any pain it’s just that my knee flexion is simply horrible and it is preventing me from doing exercises such as squat’s and deadlifts which will fix my horrid posture.
I remember someone suggesting ‘eccentric calve raises’, meaning the negative portion of a movement, the negative portion of the calve raise and I doubt this would work, the resistance is minimal and I think it would have little positive effect, while researching achilles tendinopathy I have read that the most successful treatment and cure for achilles tendinopathy is eccentric calve raises with loaded weight, although I don’t know how this would fix achilles tendinopathy either and if it did I would still not have the option of performing them, I don’t have access to a calve raise station and a gym and I can’t get access to one, the only equipment I have is at home.
I need more help with this, I still don’t know how to improve my ankle mobility and I am doubting what I am doing, I am beginning to doubt it will drastically improve my ankle mobility.
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