... the muscle in the front of my shin/leg - basically the one involved in lifting up the feet/toes (in the position opposite to "pointing the toes")... any suggestion?

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Alhrayth's Kiss&Cry

I feel a stretch in that muscle when I do what is meant to be a quad stretch--stand on one foot, catch the other foot in your hand by lifting your foot up behind you (bending your free knee), gently pull the free foot to the buttocks to stretch the quad.

Here's a photo of someone doing it lying down, I just do the same thing standing up.

when you do this, your free foot is very pointed, which also stretches that front shin & tendons that go across the front of your ankle.

When I'm stretching on the ice I do this stretch at the boards & instead of hanging on to the foot, I set it on the edge of the boards.

Well, my kinesiologist always says that the best way to stretch a muscle is to stretch it in the opposite direction that its used for...

So if you want to stretch the muscle that flexes the toes, stretch your pointe! I believe the same muscle that is responsible for flexing is responsible for pointing, but the change in muscle length is what causes the difference... the muscles shorten to flex, and lengthen to pointe.

I'm not really sure about this as I've never tried stretching that muscle, but maybe it'll help you!

~*EVIE*~

thank you for your replies... I'll keep trying!

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Alhrayth's Kiss&Cry

I think what you are referring to is an isometric stretch - where you first assume the stretch and then pull the muscle in the opposite direction to the stretch while providing some kind of resistance. Simply doing a toe point is not going to improve your foot flex.

As an example for a side split - stand with you feet as far apart as you can stretch and then try to pull your feet together, obviously your feet aren't going to move but the contraction of the muscles improves the effectiveness of the stretch.

A good stretch for the calf is to stand facing a wall with the heel of one foot on the floor and the toes a few inches up the wall. Stand up straight so that you can feel the pull in the calf. To make this an isometric stretch try to push your toes through the wall and hold for up to 30 seconds do a few reps on each foot and slightly increase the stretch each time.

John

I'm confused... is she trying to improve her foot flex, or is she trying to stretch the front of her foot/lower leg? if she's trying to improve her flex, that's a good exercise john. But if she's trying to lengthen the muscles on the front of her leg, then that would actually shorten them, wouldn't it? Of course, the whole toe point thing would require that it be a passive stretch... relaxing the foot and having some push lightly down on the top of the foot, for example, to stretch the front of the ankle and the shin.

gah... I think maybe I should go back to school for kinesiology.



~*EVIE*~

There's a good partner stretch to work the shin that we used in track all of the time.

Sit on the floor, with your back straight and your legs together, straight out in front of you. Your partner presses down on the tops of your feet, pressing the towards the ground. Then your partner then puts their hands on the bottoms of your feet and presses towards you. To stretch the sides of your shins as well, turn your feet out and have your partner push them towards the ground, then turn them in (so the toes are facing each other) and have your partner press them this way towards the ground. In all of these, try to keep the legs as still as possible (don't twist the leg) or else the stretch won't work.

Just make sure to hold it long enough, and to tell your partner if they've pushed too far or not enough.

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"Without a struggle, there can be no progress" ~ Frederick Douglass

May have been reading it a bit fast , anyway we now have stretches both ways which can only be a good thing.

I'm looking for the second option - a stretch for the front of the lower part of the leg...
but the other info was interesting anyway, though!! Thanks!

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Alhrayth's Kiss&Cry

This is one my daughter does in her pre-skate warm-up. The key is to do this before you put your skates on. Stand on one foot. Extend the other foot out in front about 12 - 18 inches. Point your toe. You can also stretch the achilles tendon at the same time by making circles with your foot - toe still pointed - flexing at the ankle.

The muscle you're trying to stretch is called the anterior tibialis muscle, and is the one that becomes painful when you have shin splints. Since this muscle only crosses the ankle, you can easily stretch it while you're sitting there at your computer.

Start by sitting up straight in your chair, sitting a bit more toward the front of the chair than leaning against the back, feet flat on the floor. (We PT's always like to see good posture!)

Bend your knee and place the top of the foot to be stretched on the floor under the chair (your shoe laces should be on the floor). You'll feel the stretch along the front of your ankle and up along your shin. Try to maintain your tall sitting posture while you hold the stretch for 15-30 seconds. Repeat 5 times on each leg.


Remember to always stretch gently, with no bouncing!