Just sharing an experience I had that led to significant increases in ankle range of motion. The practitioner was a DNS – Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization practitioner doing good work out of Movement Performance gym in Manila. DNS is a well respected rehab system out of Prague.
I went to him to discuss how to increase ankle range of motion in my right ankle. Thought to be limited due to a boney block after an ankle break from high school basketball. I’ve always struggled to release the calfs due to this boney block. Of course this effects function upstream especially limiting hip extension.
He treated it different than any therapist i’ve ever worked with…
He lightly “brushed” the sural nerve for about 5 minutes. A year ago before I started to understand the nervous system and its play on muscle tone I would have though this to be a waste of time… After 5 minutes I stood up for “re-test” and my chronically tight calfs had significantly decreased in their “tone” and therefore I picked up significant ankle range and was able to stretch into my soleus.
What did you do? He promoted the nerve that runs through my calf to relax from the distal end. This turned down the tone upstream, freeing up my ankle joint to access deeper ranges.
Interesting experience. If anyone has issues with ankle mobility or excessive tone in some tissues and has “tried everything” you should look into DNS.
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