Join New Paradigm Wellness on Facebook: In my post How to Tie Your Shoes, I discussed the close relationship between your feet, calves and back. In our culture we tend to avoid movements that stretch our calves, i.e. squats and lunges, in our daily lives. As a result many people have tight calves. The calf muscles are located in the back of the lower leg, crossing both the knee and ankle joints. Having tight calves can cause complications at these joints, creating aching feet and/or misaligned backs. Stretching your calves helps relieve foot, knee, and back problems.
For proper calf stretching, warm up first by doing some ankle pumps and circles or taking a quick walk.
1. Shift your weight to one leg. Reach opposite leg back as you hinge forward from the
hips. Align over the weighted leg, keeping the spine straight and the hips even.
2. Lunge forward, bending the front (weighted) knee and sink hips down to feel the calf stretch. Stop before your feel discomfort. You want to feel stretching not pain. Make sure your toes are pointing forward and not out to the side.
3. Hold for 20-30 seconds. Repeat 3-5 times each side. Increase the frequency if you have
very tight calves.
4. One variation is to bend the back leg once in the lunge. This provides a deeper stretch in the part of the calf called the Soleus muscle. The Soleus muscle does not cross the knee joint. This variation provide a more direct release for tight ankles. If you bend backwards, you may also feel a nice hip stretch with this version.
What’s wrong with this picture? (What NOT to do)
1) Head bent downward: People tend to want to look at their feet while doing this stretch. This bends your spine
2) Hips not aligned: Tilted or rotated hips keep the stretch from going deep into the back of the leg.
3) Back leg isn’t extended enough: Full extension provides a hip stretch and lengthening of the calf.
Sandy says
So easy and direct. Love the pictures. I’ll do some right now! My calves (and everything else they affect)thank you!