When your knee hurts, it is natural to assume that the problem is coming directly from the knee.

Sometimes that is true. But not always.

One of the things we look at when someone comes to Mint Condition Fitness with knee discomfort is how the joints above and below the knee are moving. That means looking mostly at the hip and ankle…and it’s the ankle that most often is overlooked.

If your ankle does not have enough mobility, your body still has to find a way to perform movements like walking, squatting, climbing stairs, or getting up and down from the floor. Often, some of that extra movement gets pushed into the knee.

Over time, that can contribute to irritation or discomfort.

In this week's video, we are going to show you three simple ways to improve ankle mobility and see if it helps your knees move and feel better.

Your ankle, knee, and hip do not function independently. They work together every time your foot hits the ground.

When you walk down stairs, for example, your ankle needs to bend enough to allow your knee to move forward smoothly. If the ankle is stiff, your body has to compensate somewhere else.

You might turn your foot out.. Your arch may collapse. Your hip may rotate. Or your knee may have to take on movement that it normally would not need to handle.

That does not mean every case of knee pain is caused by poor ankle mobility.

Knee pain can have many causes, and persistent or significant pain should be evaluated appropriately.

But if ankle mobility is part of the problem, improving it can sometimes make a noticeable difference.

In the video below, we walk you through three of our favorite drills.

The first exercise is an active calf stretch, and all you need is a wall.

Place both hands against the wall and step the leg you want to stretch behind you. Your front leg is mostly there to support your weight.

Keep the heel of the back foot firmly on the ground and push gently into the wall.

From there, allow your hips to move slightly downward and forward until you feel a stretch through the upper portion of your calf.

Hold that position for about 5 to 10 seconds, relax, and repeat several times.

Then bring your back foot a little closer to the wall. Keep the heel down again, but this time allow the knee to bend more as you sink into the stretch.

You should feel this version lower in the calf and closer to the Achilles tendon.

Together, these two positions help address different portions of the calf and improve the ankle's ability to move forward over the foot.

How to Use It

Try 3 to 5 holds of 5 to 10 seconds in each position on both legs.

This can be particularly useful before walking, strength training, squatting, or other activities that tend to bother your knees.

The second exercise combines soft-tissue work with active ankle movement.

Sit on the floor and place a foam roller underneath your calf. Slowly move your leg over the roller until you find an area that feels especially tight or tender.
Instead of rapidly rolling back and forth, stay near that spot.

Once you are there, begin making large circles with your ankle. Pull the toes toward you, point them away, and move the foot through as much comfortable range of motion as you can.

Go in both directions.

You may notice that the movement feels choppy or that certain parts of the circle are more difficult than others. That is okay. The goal is to gradually explore and improve the movement rather than forcing your ankle into a painful position.

If you need additional pressure, you can cross your opposite leg over the leg on the foam roller.

How to Use It

Perform approximately 10 ankle circles clockwise and 10 counterclockwise in each tight area.

Then repeat on the other leg.

You can spend a minute or two on each calf rather than trying to aggressively roll for a long period of time.

For the final exercise, you will need a dowel, broomstick, or something similar that you can hold vertically in front of your foot.

Start in a half-kneeling position with the foot you want to work on in front of you.

Place the stick directly in front of your toes.

Keeping your entire foot on the ground, slowly drive your knee forward toward the stick.

The key is keeping your heel down.

If you can comfortably reach the stick, move it slightly farther away and repeat. Continue moving forward only as far as you can while maintaining good control and keeping the heel connected to the ground.

Try to keep your hips pointing forward as well. If you notice yourself twisting or rotating to create more range of motion, reset your position and shorten the movement.

Move forward 5 to 10 times, pausing briefly at the end of each repetition.

Then we are going to add a few new directions.

Move the knee slightly toward the outside of the stick for another 5 to 10 repetitions. After that, move the knee toward the inside of the stick.

The inside position is often more challenging because your hips may want to rotate with you. Keep your hips as square as possible and only move through the range you can control.

These different angles help expose the ankle to movement in more than one direction, which is much closer to what happens during everyday activities.

You do not need to spend 30 minutes working on your ankles.

Try putting these three drills together as a quick mobility routine:

• Active calf stretch: 3 to 5 holds in each position
  
• Foam roller ankle circles: 10 circles each direction
  
• Half-kneeling ankle mobility: 5 to 10 repetitions forward, inside, and outside
  

The entire sequence should only take a few minutes.

Then stand up, walk around, perform a few controlled squats, or repeat whatever movement normally bothers your knee and see how it feels.

Sometimes the change is immediate. Other times, improving ankle mobility takes consistent work over several weeks.

And if nothing changes, that is useful information too. It may mean the ankle is not the primary factor contributing to your knee discomfort.

This is one of the biggest lessons I want you to take from this video.

Where you feel pain is not always where the problem begins.

The body functions as a system. Your feet affect your ankles. Your ankles affect your knees. Your knees affect your hips, and everything works together as you move through the day.

That is why simply strengthening or stretching the area that hurts does not always solve the problem.

Sometimes we need to look a little farther away.

If knee pain, stiffness, balance problems, or other movement limitations are keeping you from doing the things you enjoy, the answer is not always simply exercising harder.

First, you need to understand what is actually happening.

That is why the first step for new member at Mint Condition Fitness is our Thrive-in-5 Program.

Instead of jumping straight into a full workout program, we assess how your body moves, look at areas such as your ankles, knees, hips, strength, and balance, and begin identifying where your biggest opportunities for improvement may be.

Over five visits, you will receive:

• A full balance and fitness assessment
  
• Two personal training sessions tailored to your needs
  
• One recovery session
  
• A results consultation where we review everything and map out your next phase of training
  

This is not about trying a few workouts.

It is about understanding your body and building the right plan from the start.

Learn more about the Thrive-in-5 Program at:
https://mintfit.com/thrive-in-5/