150 | Stay Active in Midlife with Better Ankle Movement: Movement Snack

Imagine you're walking confidently through your golden years, free from the fear of falls and injuries. That's not just a dream; it's a reality you can achieve by focusing on one crucial area: your ankles. Join me, Courtney, on this episode of Moving Through Midlife, as I share a deeply personal story about a family member's fall that underscores the undeniable value of ankle mobility and strength. We'll dive into a practical, step-by-step exercise you can start right from your chair, designed to improve your ankle health and enhance your stability. By prioritizing safety and going barefoot, you'll fully engage your foot's range of motion and start your journey toward better mobility and injury prevention.

Incorporating simple movement snacks into your daily routine can make a world of difference in your overall well-being. Listen along as I guide you through an easy-to-follow exercise that aims to boost your ankle mobility and keep you active as you age gracefully. Don't hesitate to text us with any questions or feedback—we'll address them in an upcoming call. And, of course, share this episode with friends or leave a review to help us reach more moms like you. For more support and resources, join our Moving Through Midlife community and take the next step in your journey to better health and stability. Enjoy the benefits of this movement snack and embrace the joys of staying active through midlife and beyond.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome to Moving Through Midlife. I am your host, courtney, a personal trainer and movement specialist who wants to help you move through midlife with more grace. Each week, we will discuss ways we can show up better for ourselves and our children without the burnout, children without the burnout. We will focus on overall health through habit stacking to help increase energy, provide movement snacks to help you move more throughout the day, while also moving your body more, and learn from professionals on moving through midlife with ease so that you can feel confident with aging. Gracefully, grab your earbuds and join me on a leisurely walk while we discuss moving through midlife. It is the first Monday of the month, which means we are working on a movement snack. So I have had a situation where a family member has been falling recently and it made me think about how our feet are moving and what we can do to work on ensuring that our feet are not only strong, but that our ankles are able to support us through the fall to where we're not twisting or breaking an ankle. So what I'd like to have you do today is work on this mobility of the ankle to see what your personal range of motion is, and then work through that movement to see if you can increase your mobility within your ankle. Because what happens is, if our tendons and ligaments are not put into a position, they will lock up. If, say, you're walking and you trip over something, you fall into a slight hole or you're, you know, moving up onto a different part of the sidewalk where your ankle twists. If your ankle starts to twist and it is familiar with that position, it will move through that position and then move on. If, on the other hand, you do it and it's not a position that your foot has ever been in or is comfortable in, it will lock up, and then that's when strains and sprains occur. So what we're going to do is, when you are in an area where you can stand or sit still, you are going to place your feet on the floor, preferably barefoot, just so that you can work through the full range of movement within your whole foot itself. You're going to lift the heel up. So when I recommend you lift the heel up, some people will pull from the heel, but I want you to instead think about pushing through that forefoot, so your midfoot and your toes. You're pressing down and by you pressing down it creates this counter pressure or this lever-type thing where the heel lifts up.

Speaker 1: 3:37

In this position it's almost like you're in, say, a relevé or on tippy toes, that type of position. But you can be sitting down. And now what we're going to do is we're going to imagine our heel in our ankle, pushing out to the side, and you just want to notice what is your range of motion in that position and then bring it back to neutral, to where the heel is directly over top of that midfoot area, and then drop the ankle in a little bit and see what that feels like. So the foot is still on the floor, the midfoot and the toes are still on the floor. You're not trying to roll. You still want weight on that area. Hopefully this makes sense.

Speaker 1: 4:27

Obviously, if you're struggling with this, you can always go to our Moving Through Midlife community, where I will have a video posted for you. So you're just going to move through that position. Usually, you'll have more movement out than you will in. That is okay. What you are looking for is what is your mobility on one side compared to the other? Are they similar? Is one tighter? Do you notice when you're moving through the position, something feels tight in your foot or in your ankle and then just work with that, just work on seeing can I get into that position comfortably?

Speaker 1: 5:09

Now, if you're seated and you're like this feels good, this feels fine, why not try to stand up? Do the same thing by going up into a releve or tippy toes and make sure you're holding on to something, because we don't want to put too much weight on our ankle as it moves out like that if it's not something you're comfortable with. So if you're feeling strain when you're seated, do not try to do this standing up. We don't want to cause a strain or a sprain while we're practicing this movement. So once you stand up and you do that as well, you may notice that you feel tension, tightness. You might feel like, oh my goodness, my body is kind of locking up to protect that area.

Speaker 1: 5:55

If that's something that you're noticing, I would recommend trying to move through that position a little bit more. Usually, what I would say is just bring one foot up while you're standing so that you're not fully on releve. Bring one foot up and then move it side to side, see what that feels like. Then try it on the other side, back and forth, and then just notice this is going to increase the mobility in that area. This will take time. This is going to be something you might want to work on, you know, and that's why I'm trying to give movement snacks once a month now, to where you can kind of just move through these positions, notice what they feel like, cry them, you know, once or twice a day, and then move on and do the rest of your life.

Speaker 1: 6:45

These are not meant to be exercises, so to speak. These are movement patterns that you can add into your everyday life and just see what things feel like. And then the point of them is to obviously help you to where, as you're getting older, your body is moving into these new and different positions, to help you with longevity, to help you with mobility throughout your lifetime, because as we get older, we tend to move these parts less, which increases our chance of injuries. If you continue to work through these different exercises as you get older, you may notice a decrease in injuries because your body knows it's safe to go into those positions. So that is your movement snack.

Speaker 1: 7:40

If you are enjoying these things, make sure to head over to our Moving Through Midlife community on Facebook. I share movement snacks in there. I can help answer any questions you may have as well, and then we also do have our Move Better bundle that you can always go access as well. I do want to let you know that there is a new feature on our podcast where, if you click on the episode notes, you'll see the very first thing it says is send us a text message If you would like, if you have a question for me, you can click on that. It will send me a message.

Speaker 1: 8:30

Unfortunately, it's not something where I can get back to you, but if I have questions, I am happy to answer them for you on an upcoming call. So definitely feel free to send me a text message so I know how you're enjoying this or if you have any questions for me. So that is all for today. I hope you enjoy this movement snack and I hope it helps you work on your range of motion or your mobility within your ankle. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found something to take away to help you practice healthier habits, move more or handle the midlife and aging with grace. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or leave us a review to help us reach more moms just like you. Head to movingthroughmidlifecom to join the free community or learn how you can move more and feel better in your daily life.