-The ankle is one of the most commonly overlooked areas when trying to improve mobility and flexibility. We have talked about the overhead deep squat numerous times and how failing the overhead squat can be detrimental to your golf swing. One of the most common reasons we see a failure of the overhead deep squat is a lack of ankle mobility.

Decreased ankle mobility, specifically dorsiflexion (bringing your foot towards your head), can be a result of a number of restrictions. The most common restrictions are tightness in the calf/achilles, and restriction of the subtalar joint. We always say “Assess, Don’t Guess”, but in this case you are pretty safe to work on both issues without the risk of doing more harm. If you would like to go through an assessment, there are quick and easy tests we can take you through.

To address the tightness in your calf there are multiple self-management techniques that you can utilize: foam rolling, massage gun, massage stick, lacrosse ball, voodoo flossing, etc. The easiest technique to incorporate is general myofascial stretching. The key to myofascial stretching is that it needs to be done at a very low intensity (just barely feeling the stretch) and held for at least 60 seconds. To work on the calf muscles, go over to a step with your heels hanging off the edge. Keeping the knee straight, drop your heel towards the floor until you feel a gentle stretch. After 60 seconds, repeat the stretch but this time with a slight bend in the knee

To work on joint restrictions you will want to get into a half kneeling position. Keeping your foot flat on the ground, start to glide your knee forward as far as you can without the heel coming up off the ground. Mobilizations differ from stretching as mobilizations are all about repetitions instead of holding a position. Keep repeating that gliding motion back and forth about 20 times.

You can view our video if you want to see the joint mobilization in action. It is an older video so don’t judge us on the audio quality! Click here For video.