Ankle Dorsiflexion in Adolescent Athletes

Abstract

Ankle equinus has been proposed to be associated with lower-extremity pathology. Physiologically normal measurements have been quantified in various populations. Forty high-school athletes (16 girls and 24 boys) without a history of ankle injury had ankle dorsiflexion measured with the knee extended and flexed by an experienced evaluator using a goniometer with the subjects supine. The group mean ± SD dorsiflexion for the right ankle was 0.35° ± 2.2° with the knee extended and 4.88° ± 3.23° with the knee flexed. The values for the left ankle were –0.6° ± 2.09° and 4.68° ± 3.33°, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences between limbs using the Student t-test. In girls, values for right and left ankle dorsiflexion were 0.19° ± 2.1° and –0.7° ± 2.3°, respectively, with the knee extended and 4.88° ± 3.59° and 4.88° ± 3.07°, respectively, with the knee flexed. In boys, these values were 0.46° ± 2.3° and –0.5° ± 1.98° with the knee extended and 4.88° ± 3.04° and 4.54° ± 3.55° with the knee flexed. There were no statistically significant differences between boys and girls. Ankle dorsiflexion in asymptomatic adolescent athletes is approximately 0° with the knee extended and just less than 5° with the knee flexed. (J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 93(4): 312-314, 2003)