If you're suffering from spinal pain, you may be wondering if it's the wrong working posture or the way you sleep. Not many people who feel back pain would doubt that the problem could originate from the ankles.
Although the feet are located far from the spine in the human body, they can have a tremendous effect on it.
As mentioned above, often the cause of back pain can be due to problems in the foot area. Foot position plays a key role. Increased supination (stepping on the outer edge of the foot) or pronation (stepping on the inner edge of the foot) and also fallen arches of the feet can have an impact on the way you stand upright and on the way you walk. Even the slightest change in the way you step or stand can throw your body out of balance thus requiring other structures in your body to correct and compensate in order for you to maintain an upright body position. However, this compensation over time can lead to hip and back pain.
Limited range of motion in the ankle often goes unnoticed for a long time and has a big impact on the way we walk. For example, limited dorsiflexion (counterspin) has a great impact on gait , especially when climbing inclines, which can subsequently create problems in the back.. The lack of sufficient degrees of ankle joint motion leads to a greater and incorrect load distribution on the other segments of the kinetic chain, which represents each person.
You're probably wondering how to check if you have limited mobility in your ankle joints. We at Okto can give you an easy test to check this. Stand facing a wall, place your foot so that your toes are about 12.5cm from it, and place the other one back so that you are in the lunge position. You are trying to move your body forward so that your knee touches the wall, if you can't do this then your ankle movement is restricted.
The good news is that if this is the cause of your complaints there is a wide range of easy things you can do. There are many exercises you can do on your own to improve your dorsiflexion. Such as: squats, lunges, etc. that won't hurt you.
