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The effect of calf muscle stretching exercises on ankle joint dorsiflexion and dynamic foot pressures, force and related temporal parameters.
Macklin K, Healy A, Chockalingam N. Foot (Edinb). 2011 Sep 22. [Epub ahead of print]
Quote:
BACKGROUND:
Previous research has found that ankle joint equinus can lead to foot pathologies. Calf stretching exercises are a common treatment prescription; however, no dynamic quantitative data on its effectiveness is available.
OBJECTIVE:
To investigate the effect of calf muscle stretching on ankle joint dorsiflexion and subsequent changes within dynamic forefoot peak plantar pressures (PPP), force and temporal parameters.
METHOD:
Thirteen runners with ankle joint equinus were required to perform calf muscle stretching twice a day (morning and evening) on a Flexeramp. Measurements were collected on day 1, week 4 and week 8. A repeated measures ANOVA with Bonferroni-adjusted post hoc comparisons was used to assess differences across the three data collection sessions.
RESULTS:
Findings indicated that the calf stretching program increased ankle joint dorsiflexion significantly (from 5° to 16°, p≤0.05). The adaptive kinetics brought about by the increased ankle joint range of motion included significantly increased forefoot PPP and maximum force during stance phase but decreased time between heel contact and heel lift and total stance phase time.
CONCLUSION:
The calf stretching programme used in this study was found to increase ankle joint dorsiflexion and hence can be used for first line conservative management of ankle equinus.
Re: Effect of calf muscle stretching on foot function
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewsBot
The adaptive kinetics brought about by the increased ankle joint range of motion included significantly increased forefoot PPP and maximum force during stance phase but decreased time between heel contact and heel lift and total stance phase time.
Anyone find that somewhat counterintuitive?
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Re: Effect of calf muscle stretching on foot function
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian G
Anyone have a copy of this? Be interested to know how they measured ankle joint dorsiflexion.
One would hope an ankle lunge test?
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Re: Effect of calf muscle stretching on foot function
They measured Ankle dorsiflexion with a plastic full circle goinometer and thought that the increase in forefoot pressure may be due to the reintrodution of the windlass mechanism , just come across paper looking for something else
Tim
Re: Effect of calf muscle stretching on foot function
Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Payne
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewsBot
The adaptive kinetics brought about by the increased ankle joint range of motion included significantly increased forefoot PPP and maximum force during stance phase but decreased time between heel contact and heel lift and total stance phase time.
Anyone find that somewhat counterintuitive?
I was surprised by the increase in peak plantar pressures. I expected no change even with an increase in range of motion. Shifting weight onto the forefoot is caused by active contraction of the muscle and not at it's passive "end of range of motion".
This illustrates one of the problems I have with looking at joint stiffness. Muscle activity alters joint stiffness. When you measure stiffness, how do you account for the variability of the stiffness of the muscle. Stiffness is still a better term than hypermobility though.
Re: Effect of calf muscle stretching on foot function
CONCLUSION:
The calf stretching programme used in this study was found to increase ankle joint dorsiflexion and hence can be used for first line conservative management of ankle equinus.
No it can't. , Well yes it can, but the Paper doesn't prove that. Had they added "(in the 13 subjects we tested)" the conclusion would have been more accurate.
13 subjects is a very small cohort
Effect of calf muscle stretching on foot function
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