PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1677383
This article is part of the Research TopicLateral Ankle Sprain, Chronic Ankle Instability and Ankle Osteoarthritis: Unraveling Mechanisms and Exploring Management ApproachesView all 12 articles
Restoring ankle dorsiflexion range of motion in athletes: an individualized clinical decision-making system
Provisionally accepted
- 1Physiotherapy department and motion analysis lab, Hôpital de la Tour, Meyrin, Switzerland
- 2University Savoie Mont-Blanc, Interuniversity Laboratory of Human Movement Sciences, Universite Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne, Saint-Étienne, France
- 3Kin’Aixpert, Viviers du Lac, France
- 4Simplexity Performance Solutions, La Motte Servolex, France
- 5School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Physiotherapy, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
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Background: Ankle dorsiflexion range of motion plays a pivotal biomechanical role within the lower limb with implications both in rehabilitation, injury risk reduction and athletic performance. However, clinicians often lack practical guidance on diagnosing and differentiating the various joints or structures that have been shown to have a role in ankle dorsiflexion range of motion restriction. Clinical question: To move beyond the "one size fits all approach" paradigm in musculoskeletal rehabilitation, we propose addressing the 2 following questions: (1) How can clinician utilize the weight-bearing lunge test findings to develop a clinical-decision making system for ankle dorsiflexion range of motion assessment? and (2) How can this system guide individualized interventions to restore ankle dorsiflexion range of motion specific to each athlete's needs? Solutions: We outline a 3-step framework for improving ankle dorsiflexion range of motion restriction: (1) having a quantitative and qualitative assessment using the weight-bearing lunge test to identify joint or structure involvement, (2) having confirmatory diagnostic testing to pinpoint mobility restrictions of the joint or structures involved, and (3) proposing targeted interventions based on individual findings, ensuring a personalized rehabilitation approach rather than a generalized global protocol. Clinical application: This rehabilitation practice commentary addresses a notable gap in the existing literature on clinical choices regarding ankle dorsiflexion restriction treatment. By integrating this individual clinical decision-making system, clinicians can enhance rehabilitation and performance optimization beyond standard treatment methods.
Keywords: Ankle, range of motion, clinical reasoning, manual therapy, Muscle Stretching Exercises
Received: 31 Jul 2025; Accepted: 29 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tourillon, M'Baye and Smith. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Romain Tourillon, romain.tourillon@gmail.com
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