Practicing the "Wrong" Ankle Movement

Last week I mentioned a breath hold and how, in spite of being exhorted to never hold our breath while dancing/exercising, breath holds can often be quite helpful for our brains and bodies. There are many movements that we are told are incorrect or not safe, and yet, the lack of joint movement into those ranges of motion is often what makes the movement unsafe.

As an example, dancers in particular spend a lot of time balancing on the ball of one or two feet and work very hard at maintaining “good” alignment of the ankle and keeping the weight distributed between the toes. This supposedly helps prevent the ankle from rolling out (inversion) which, when done without control and under load, can often lead to a lateral ankle sprain. However, our ankle/foot complex has this range of motion naturally, and to never explore that range means that when we do happen to roll out when trying to balance or landing from a jump, our brain has no established pathway to bring the ankle back to neutral. We have not “practiced” returning our ankles back to neutral — we have only ever tried to keep them in neutral, which is not the same thing.

Once I realized this, I started incorporating an ankle circle/rolling motion into some heel raises (elevés) and used this exercise as a warm up when I teach ballet. From my observations and their comments, dancers’ stability and control of their ankles/feet has increased. On top of that, it feels good to do!

Check out the video below for a demonstration and try it for yourself (hold onto something for balance and move slowly at first).