Foot Ankle Stretching

Stretching the foot and ankle isn’t something that’s in everyone’s stretching repertoire, despite the foot being the one part of the body that is used nearly all day, every day for standing, walking, running, biking, skiing, and everything else you do. This is a stretching routine I learned from my coach at Paul Smith’s College, and it’s a quick, easy, and effective way to release your tension in your foot and ankle region. All stretches are to whatever repetition feels good, I usually do 10-15 depending on the stretch.

We’ll start with stretching the Soleus: Put your knee up in front of you while sitting down, and lift up, gripping the ball of your foot.

Achilles: bring your heel in closer to you and lift again, feeling the stretch in the back of your heel.

Tibialis Anterior: Bring one leg straight out, and the other across it. Place your hand on the top of your foot, and push down. Hold the stretch for a second, then release the stretch and repeat.

This is a great stretch for helping shin splints, as the stretch “resets” the Tibialis

Ankle Evertors: Place one hand on the heel, and the other over the top of the arch, and move the ankle upward to isolate the evertors.

Pronators/ Supination: Have one hand under your arch, and the other on top of your front arch, curling the toes. Bring the top arch towards your body midline.

Repeat again, but instead bringing your foot away from your midline.

Metatarsal Arch: Have your hands on the top of your foot, spreading the arch into an upward “U”.

Keep your hands in the same position, but spread the arch downward to stretch the flexors.

Toe Extensors: Start with your big toe in one hand, and your other toes isolated in the other, and stretch your toe upwards.

Keeping the same toe isolated, stretch it downwards.

Repeat for each toe.

Toe Adductors: Starting again with your big toe in one hand, and the other toes in the other, spread the webbing of your toes apart.

Repeat this for the webbing in between each of your toes.

This series of stretches is something I try to do at least 2-3 times a week, just to release some of the tension from my feet, especially in high-capacity ski weeks, or times when I’ve been on my feet all day. It’s an easy ~10 minute stretch and the results feel great.