Calf tightness is a very common complaint I hear from patients and it sidelines those of us who love to run, play pickleball, hike, etc. Chronic tightness in this area also contributes to other injuries such as Achilles tendonopathy, plantar fasciitis and even knee pain. While stretching your calves can help a bit, I haven’t observed anyone stretching their way out of chronic calf tightness. If stretching doesn’t or hasn’t worked for your tight calves, you should be focusing on ankle and foot mobility. As such I have developed the following protocol based on ankle and foot dynamics during walking.
Heel inversion / eversion
When our foot first hits the ground while taking a step, we should land on the outside border of our heel. At this point our heel should be inverted (pointing a little inward) and most people pull this off without a problem. However, once we begin putting weight on our heel, it should shift a bit and start everting (pointing outward). This is where the trouble begins. A lot of us have heels that are stuck pointing inward and don’t shift out. This shift is important because it allows us to start transitioning to the inner border of our foot. We can, “un-stick,” our heels with a simple exercise called heel slides.
Heel Rolls: 2 x 10 reps, 2 x daily, for 2 weeks
Mid-Foot Pronation
As we begin to shift more weight onto our foot when walking, the mid-foot (where the arch is) should flex down toward the ground, flattening out the foot. A lot is happening to the foot and ankle at this point like ankle dorsiflexion, first metatarsal plantar flexion, etc. But the main point is that the mid-foot needs to be supple enough to move into pronation. At this phase in walking we need to bias our weight to the ball of the foot below the big toe (head of the 1st metatarsal) and the inside border of the heel. Many of us keep our weight on the outside border of our foot and this is not ideal. We can correct this with an elevated heel goblet squat. If you don’t have the fancy wedges I use in the video, put book, weight or rolled up towel under your heel.
Elevated Heel Goblet Squat: 2 x 10 reps, 2 x daily, for 2 weeks
Mid-Foot Pronation and then some
Now that we have practiced pronating our mid-foot, we need to be able to accept more weight on the inside border of the foot and begin to, “push off.” At this phase we are loading up the muscles, tendons and ligaments of the foot arch, taking advantage of their springy properties. To practice this we can use a lateral squat.
Lateral Squat: 2 x 10 reps, 2 x daily, for 2 weeks
Finally we are ready for the final phase where our foot (big toe really) pushes off the ground and propels us forward. For this phase we need to roll over the ball of the big toe and onto the big toe itself. Again, if you remain on the outside border of your foot, you will not get fully or squarely onto the big toe and will live some potential energy on the table….in other words, your walking style is inefficient. To practice this we do a forward toe lunge.
Forward Toe Lunge: 2 x 10 reps, 2 x daily, for 2 weeks
To conclude, your tight calves are probably just working overtime to compensate for some wonky foot and ankle dynamics. Give these exercises a try for a couple weeks to see if they loosen up. If you want to check all the calf tightness boxes, try complimenting these exercises with some calf foam rolling.
Calf Foam Rolling: 2 min per calf, 1 x daily, for 2 weeks.