increased mobility causing me physical problems

Hey guys, I've been putting a lot of effort into unlocking my hips and I'm seeing some increases in flexibility and mobility.

As my legs are no longer turned in all the time, I find myself walking on the outside blades of my feet because it looks like my ankles are lacking flexibility. I'm developing pain in my foot, ankles and knees.

I'm trying to flex my ankle in all directions and trying to work the pathways for my hips to be open (knees turned out) and still have my feet flat on the floor as I walk.

However, I'm worried that I've got a significant leg or knee injury coming because of all the years I've spent building a body with my knees turned in and my hips closed. Are there additional exercises I should do so my body can support healthy movements during athletics?

Sounds like you need some more generalized mobility work.  to be honest, i'm surprised the SLS routine isn't doing it for you.  what PE are you on?  A number of the early iM's are quite good at working on ankle, as well as hip, mobility.  good luck.

MT Nordic said:

Sounds like you need some more generalized mobility work.  to be honest, i'm surprised the SLS routine isn't doing it for you.  what PE are you on?  A number of the early iM's are quite good at working on ankle, as well as hip, mobility.   good luck.

I'm on the first level of everything. I'm on week 10 and it's taken me most of this time to figure out the correct movements. I've been doing leg and hip stretches on my own, but now realize I need more ankle mobility or I'm going to have leg problems. I'm also wondering about whether my knees will be weak or injury prone in certain movements if I start functioning with more open hips.

the SLS progressions will strengthen your knees in all 4 movements (knee flexion/extension/medial+lateral rotation).   Coach mentioned that one of his athletes (Allan Bower) had knee pain and the mobility exercises in SLS alleviated it in a week

I agree. Give the SLS progressions some time if you're just on PE1. It will take some slow steady work, but you will reap the benefits of your patience. Your knees and ankles will be fine if you follow the programming.

Maybe throw in a "third world stretch / asian stretch" (just sitting in a good, deep squat position with knees pushed out and chest up) for a couple of minutes, a couple of times a week, also?

I think that should challenge both hip and ankle mobility while keeping feet in a good, solid position.

In addition to a bunch of ankle and hip stretching, I found this particular release tremendously helpful for me when I was working on a similar issue.   I don't have the tool he used, but found using my thumbs or my knuckles in a fist was enough.        You can try it and see.  

Jennifer said:

In addition to a bunch of ankle and hip stretching, I found this particular release tremendously helpful for me when I was working on a similar issue.   I don't have the tool he used, but found using my thumbs or my knuckles in a fist was enough.        You can try it and see.  

That video leaves me conflicted. That video directly addresses my problems, but in the martial arts world Naudi is known as a bit of an idiot. He's crapped on pretty heavily for some of his training ideas. I'll try it and see if it helps.

MT Nordic said:

I agree. Give the SLS progressions some time if you're just on PE1. It will take some slow steady work, but you will reap the benefits of your patience. Your knees and ankles will be fine if you follow the programming.

I'm hoping to get things fuctioning as soon as possible. I train martial arts daily and right now I have to be so careful or I'm going to wind up injured. I can feel it.

This happened to me once before and I wound up injured. Some new shoes put some weird strain on my ankle and knee and I ended up rolling my ankle one day during the warm-up. Was out for a few weeks.

Jay B. said:

I'm hoping to get things fuctioning as soon as possible. I train martial arts daily and right now I have to be so careful or I'm going to wind up injured. I can feel it.

 

This happened to me once before and I wound up injured. Some new shoes put some weird strain on my ankle and knee and I ended up rolling my ankle one day during the warm-up. Was out for a few weeks.

if you've had years of dysfunction in your lower body, you can't just magically expect to get rid of all that dysfunction you've build up.  It takes time to repair itself

alan tseng said:

if you've had years of dysfunction in your lower body, you can't just magically expect to get rid of all that dysfunction you've build up.  It takes time to repair itself

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what people are telling me.

Are people telling me that as I progress through the levels my mobility problems will be addressed? Because I don't want to wait until level 2 or 3 to start addressing these issues due to the potential of injury.

Or are people telling me that all the facets of mobility are being addressed now, it'll just take some time? Because I feel that there is work specific to this problem that I could be doing. I'm willing to have all the patience in the world for the mobility work itself to take effect.

Jay B. said:

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what people are telling me.

 

Are people telling me that as I progress through the levels my mobility problems will be addressed? Because I don't want to wait until level 2 or 3 to start addressing these issues due to the potential of injury.

 

Or are people telling me that all the facets of mobility are being addressed now, it'll just take some time? Because I feel that there is work specific to this problem that I could be doing. I'm willing to have all the patience in the world for the mobility work itself to take effect.

Yes, that's why each strength element has a integrated mobility - simply to address one issue or another.  If you have any question on what a specific iM does, then I might be able to help you better

I have no idea who that guy is.  I guess I should have prefaced my post with a general YMMV disclaimer.  I only posted to illustrate the specific myofascial release he demonstrated.

Jennifer said:

I have no idea who that guy is.  I guess I should have prefaced my post with a general YMMV disclaimer.  I only posted to illustrate the specific myofascial release he demonstrated.

No, don't get me wrong, I'm really grateful you posted that video because it's the only one I've seen addressing my EXACT problem. I'm going to give it a try.

I have a similar issue.  I've spent 20+years in such a way that my right knee bends inwards, and my right ankle is almost immobile.  I never realized this until I started Foundation, as my body has found ways to adapt my regular training around these (before unknown) limitations.

I too tried walking more on the outside of my foot, but it hurt.  Instead, I've focused on putting my foot flat on the ground and trying to evenly spread the weight to all three corners (heel, big toe, little toe).  This takes a lot of conscious effort and is best done barefoot.  In two weeks I've gone from walking such that my knee never tracked over my foot to where my knee sometimes tracks over my foot.  Considering I've spent a lifetime walking incorrectly, this is huge.

Also, sitting in the lowest squat position really helps.  I'll grab something for support, like a door, squat as low as to the floor as possible and again trying to feel my weight on all corners of the foot.  This is what is helping the most, I find.  My ankles often make satisfying cracking noises when I walk around after.  Shifting around in the bottom position helps as well.

The more conscious I am of spreading the weight around my whole foot, the better I'm doing.  Today I did my first ever deck squat, and with decent form.  Hopefully this helps reach the endgoal someday.