Straight Knee Foot Raise Test for Ankle Dorsiflexion

Ankle dorsiflexion, the ability to bring the shin forward over the foot, limits how deep someone can squat, how well they land from a jump and how their heel behaves when they run. Most gyms test it with a bent-knee lunge to a wall. The straight knee foot raise test is the other half of the picture: with the knee locked out, the gastrocnemius is stretched across both the knee and the ankle, so the test tells you whether that muscle, rather than the soleus or the joint itself, is what is holding the ankle back. This article explains how the straight-knee test is done, why it is normally read alongside the bent-knee test, and what the research says about how much to trust the number.

Want to read more?

Subscribe to ohanaperformanceinstitute.com to keep reading this exclusive post.

Subscribe Now