title: The effect of calf muscle stretching exercises on ankle joint dorsiflexion and dynamic foot pressures, force and related temporal parameters.
abstract: 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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Sport, Health and Exercise Research, Staffordshire University, ST4 2DF, UK.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Macklin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Healy
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chockalingam
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D053587:Arthrometry, Articular / Q000379:methods; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D052580:Muscle Stretching Exercises / Q000379:methods*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D009142:Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; D011312:Pressure; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology*