Chiefs, Emperors and Presidents as well as the rest of us have to squat. Activities of life, like our morning visit to the bathroom, retrieving objects off the floor, getting down to the level of our young kids and so on necessitate this functional movement.

In most cultures outside of Western ones, one may still see elderly people being able to squat. It appears that they were impervious to the hip and knee arthritis that plagues everyone else, not to mention hip replacement surgery.

What can we do to prevent us or our clients from losing the squat? What can be done for fit people to improve their squat? In this post, we will focus on the foot and ankle, working from the ground up, saving knees, hips, low back and the upper body for future posts.

Foot and ankle

By far, the most common limitation to the squat in today’s world of people that mostly work at desktops, is at the ankle. But let’s start with foot wear: most shoes, even for males, have a heel. We weren’t born with an elevated heel, which puts the foot into what professionals call ‘plantar-flexion’. This fixed position tends to shift the whole body forward onto the ball of the foot, the more so with higher heels. Besides increasing pressure into the joints of the ball of the foot, called ‘metarsal-phalangeal joints’, the entire back of the body from the plantar fascia on up through the
legs, hips, back and neck increase in tone and tension. And people wonder why they get knots in their muscles… .

Fortunately there has been a small, but growing movement away from heels, in dress and athletic shoes but for most people, this has been a lifetime issue therefore the body does not simple accept going barefoot all day without you knowing about it. The reason is all the compensations that have occurred over a long period of time. Compensations, like developing an anterior pelvic tilt, work for the short term to bring the body back to an acceptable alignment to deal with gravity and the mechanical forces of life. However, compensations become their own problems, as joints get mal-aligned and muscles get functional imbalances. The good news is, these compensations can be removed with Fascial Stretch Therapy (FST).

Fascial Stretch Therapy and the Ankle

The most common problem for trainers and therapists when assessing someone’s squat, is decreased dorsiflexion (or reduced bending to lower the body). Most often to blame is one of the muscles in the calf called the ‘soleus‘. Unlike its fraternal twin, the gastrocnemius, it only crosses over one joint, at the ankle. So it gets the blame for being tight and adhesed, locking the ankle and preventing a smooth, deep squat.

Recent evidence in dissection studies by Carla Stecco, MD show that the fascia of the lower leg is not only the most resistant to stretch, but also has criss-crossing patterns of spiraling connective tissue pathways that demand much more movement than just a traditional calf and achilles
stretch. Even the stretches specifically targeting the lateral (outside) and the medial (inside) soleus are not enough to get the full range of motion that traps the flexibility and strength potential in the ankles. One big reason is that traditional stretches do not decompress the joint and release impingment.

In FST, we use a weight bearing/closed kinetic chain method of assisted stretch that creates traction/decompression and widening at the talo-crural (ankle) joint, while simultaneously accesses the spiraling lines of fascia previously mentioned. In the process, any hypomobility of the fibula at the knee and/or ankle is also corrected. Additionally, lack of talus glide posteriorly is corrected as well. The result is a full range of motion perfect squat in just one treatment, if the restriction was relegated to lack of ankle dorsiflexion mobility.

By Chris Frederick, PT, KMI Certified Structural Integrator, co-founder of Fascial Stretch Therapy (FST)

* * *

Part 2 in this series of ‘FST helps you Squat’ will take us to the knee, a joint more complex than the simple hinge that it appears to be.

——————————————————————————————————————

The Stretch to Win Center in Phoenix (Tempe), Arizona is the world headquarters for Fascial Stretch Therapy sessions for clients and patients. We also offer Physical Therapy, Structural Integration, Pilates, Massage. . Call us at 480-394-0440 or email us at info@stretchtowin.com for an appointment or go to our website at www.stretchtowin.com.

The Stretch to Win Institute trains professionals in Fascial Stretch Therapy, a manually performed, table-based complete system that stands alone as a new service or integrates perfectly with your current services. Go to http://www.stretchtowin.com/stretchtowininstitute, call 480-394-9121 bor email us at info@stretchtowin.com for more information.

Facebook: http://facebook.com/StretchToWinInstitute

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ChrisAndAnn

LinkedIn: http://LinkedIn.com/in/chrisfrederickstretchtowin

Ann and I recently returned to teaching our workshops after almost a year hiatus & we had an overwhelming response to a very special video that we displayed to the class. “The Integral Anatomy Series” is the name of the video but I first want to tell you about the actor/producer of the series, Gil Hedley.

We first met Gil at the First Fascial Research Congress held last fall at Harvard Medical School when we took his conference workshop. It immediately became clear within the first few minutes of his presentation that “we like this guy & he speaks our language!”

Gil is obsessed with taking anatomical journeys though the body’s fascia & is, in our opinion, one of the premier dissection anatomists and human anatomy teachers of our time. He coined the term, somanaut, and approaches full body dissections with the spirit of a Lewis & Clark expedition.

While taking a workshop with Gil is undoubtedly the best way to experience his unique talents as a somanautic trail leader, the next best thing is to sit down and immerse yourself in his DVD virtual anatomical dissection workshop.

I’ve done the research for you & the least expensive way to get the series of 3 (or singley) without paying for shipping is at these links. Just make sure that you choose “FREE Super Saver Shipping” after you choose your DVDs:

Vol 1 The Integral Anatomy Series, Vol. 1: Skin and Superficial Fascia

Vol 2 The Integral Anatomy Series, Vol. 2: Deep Fascia and Muscle

Vol 3 The Integral Anatomy Series, Vol. 3: Cranial and Visceral Fasciae

Gil Hedley, PhD, Rolfer