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Episode #52: Functional Anatomy of the Foot & Ankle in Barbell Training with Dr. John Petrizzo, PT, PRSCC, CSCS, SSC
Are you wondering if you need to fix your ankle mobility to squat better, if you should wear orthotics when lifting weights, or why specific shoes help you lift weights? Understanding how the foot and ankle function is important for making specific decisions about your feet and ankles in barbell training.
The feet are our connection to the ground and our base of support and force transfer in all movements involving our feet and the ground. Because of this, the foot and ankle are quite complex, have a lot of movement, and have many bones, muscles, and joints to produce a stable and flexible base for human movement. As such, the foot and ankle are susceptible to injury outside of barbell training and powerlifting rather than because of it.
Most foot and ankle issues that impede someone’s ability to barbell train generally come from issues or injuries that occur outside of training. In most cases, it’s possible to continue to train even with injuries or limitations to the foot or ankle.
In this episode of the PRS Podcast, we discuss:
The general functional anatomy of the ankle and foot
How much ankle mobility do you need to barbell squat, and what to do about it
How your ability to walk relates to barbell training and squat
Flexible versus stiff feet
The pros and cons of arch support
And much more
If you’re a chiropractor, physical therapist, medical doctor, strength coach, or student clinician, this episode is a great review and application tutorial regarding the foot and ankle in barbell training.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
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Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC : [00:00:24] Welcome back to the Progressive Rehab & Strength podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Rori Alter, head clinical coach here at Progressive Rehab & Strength, with my lovely co-host for today, Dr. John Petrizzo, who happens to also be my husband and a clinical coach here at Progressive Rehab & Strength, Professor in Exercise Science, teaches biomechanics, kinesiology, and a million other courses that I always forget about, and also a strength training, barbell training, powerlifting coach. In today's episode, John is joining us for our month on the foot and ankle and barbell training. We wanted to have a conversation on the foot and ankle and barbell training because we don't really see injuries happen to the foot per se while you're training, but a lot of things that happen to the foot and the ankle outside of training can influence your ability to train and train well. We wanted to discuss how the foot functions and what areas can become affected and are really important to barbell training. Two things that I can think of are the ankle dorsiflexion, and we can see this with any type of fracture or surgery. We can get a limitation in one ankle versus the other, and that can kind of affect load up and the chain being dispersed evenly or not. Then people can have foot surgeries or things like bunions or flat feet or high arches. This can really affect how a person's foot functions in both daily activity and under the barbell. So, without further ado, John, can you please give us a functional anatomy lesson on the foot and ankle?
Dr. John Petrizzo, PT, CSCS, SSC: [00:02:30] The foot and ankle is a really complex structure that has a lot going on from the standpoint of bones and joints, right? There are over 20 different bones that make up the foot and ankle. There are over 20 joints. We have lots of muscles that are either extrinsic muscles, which means they originate outside of the foot and ankle, and they have an insertion somewhere within the foot, or intrinsic muscles, which means they're proximal and distal attachments that are within the foot itself, so they don't cross the ankle. We have lots of different layers of muscle, certainly different connective tissues like the Achilles tendon and plantar fascia, which are things that most people are familiar with. The best place to start would be to talk about the skeletal structure. So if we're talking about the ankle, the ankle is formed by your distal tibia and fibula articulating with your talus, which is your most proximal tarsal bone. The talus is wedged in between the tibia and fibula. The medial wall of the ankle is made up by your medial malleolus, which is part of the tibia. The lateral wall of the ankle is made up of the lateral malleolus, which is part of the fibula. So at that joint, that's where we get our dorsiflexion and plantar flexion from primarily.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC : [00:04:05] Can you explain what dorsiflexion and plantar flexion is for the person who doesn't know what those terms mean?
Dr. John Petrizzo, PT, CSCS, SSC: [00:04:12] Sure. So, dorsiflexion essentially is where you would be picking your toes up and lifting them up off of the floor. That would be ankle dorsiflexion. Plantar flexion would be the opposite, as if you were doing a heel raise, pushing your heels away from the floor.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC : [00:04:27] Yeah. Or a pointing like ballerina.
Dr. John Petrizzo, PT, CSCS, SSC: [00:04:30] Right. Exactly.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC : [00:04:32] This is the point in all these functional anatomy episodes where I say if you're listening on one of the podcast platforms, just head over to our YouTube channel because we have a video of this episode with images with all of the anatomy and movements that we're talking about. We overlay them onto the podcast episode video. So, if you need clarification or want to see visually what we're talking about, we have that over on the YouTube channel, which is linked in the description below.