Inward flexing ankles with toes sticking out! :o

[Naiad]

Okay, this is something I need to sort out for my riding. I have always known my ankles have a tendency to go inwards. I may go to a physiotherapist or something for help, as my foot itself may be contributing to this - I am not sure, but it is possible that I may have a case of mild overpronation (apparently many people do). If so, it is on the mild side. But honestly, I cannot quite tell if my foot structure makes me do this inward flexing ankles, or if it is "laziness" in my stance and can be improved at least a bit. If I loosen my hips outwards and stand nice and upwards through my lower torso, I seem less inclined to the inward flexing ankles. To see what I mean, here is a diagram of mild to moderate overpronation (again, I am not sure if this is what I have, and I don't look quite this bad).


My question:
Other than maybe seeing what a physiotherapist says about my feet (and if some insoles might help), I am after ideas here. What kinds of things can I do to try to sort this out when riding solo on my own or even at home (I will continue ridden lunge lessons to work this)? Any ideas for exercises or ways of thinking of the corrections (imagery etc.)?


1) Anyhow, here are some scary photos from the past year or so of my toes when riding! Ugh! (Wow, Amigo has a big full bum, doesn't he? He is 1/2 clydes and it shows!). I am deliberatley posting some of the worst photos, so the point is really made and you can see what I am referring to. In all the photos, I seem to have more problems with the left foot than the right foot.





2) Here are photos of my recent ridden lunge lessons at walk, with some improvement to the feet. But the bad news is once I head into trot, I still revert back to the feet sticking out thing.   

[Heather]

Yvonne,

Are you told to rotate your hips inwards- ie, pull your thigh muscle out behind?

[Naiad]

Yvonne,

Are you told to rotate your hips inwards- ie, pull your thigh muscle out behind?

No, not been told to do this. But could I accidentally be rotating my hips inwards do you think based on what you see in the photographs?

[Heather]

Doubt it if you havent been taught it. One of the best ways to help make your legs conform to the shape of a horse ( not permanently, I hasten to add!- only when you are on board!) is to practise with a gym ball. Place between your calves, and roll your little toe lower than your big toe, then close the calves, release, close release etc etc. This helps to stretch the outside of the ankle which then allows the toes to turn to the front.

[Naiad]

One of the best ways to help make your legs conform to the shape of a horse ( not permanently, I hasten to add!- only when you are on board!) is to practise with a gym ball. Place between your calves, and roll your little toe lower than your big toe, then close the calves, release, close release etc etc. This helps to stretch the outside of the ankle which then allows the toes to turn to the front.

Do I need a HUGE gym ball (quite high) so that I can sit on the thing, and squeeze my calves. Or do I just stand over a gym ball and while standing up squeeze my calves as you describe??? Please let me know what kind of gym ball I require and if I sit or stand when doing this, then I shall give this a go! Thanks!

ETA: Not sure that you could even do what you said standing up, so please excuse me if this question is totally silly! 

[oldmoss]

I will be interested to see replies to this post as I find I am the same but I also have the problem of my leg creeping up and back and using my heel more to get Toby going rather than my calf - but I also cannot wrap my calf around and this means that my heel is more in contact with Toby's side and my toes stick out - it is very frustrating when everything else looks nice above the knee lol !

[Naiad]

Heather, if you get a moment to tell me about the size of gym ball that you would use, that would be great. 

I have one of those elastic bands from a physio clinic to put around a table leg. I am then doing exercises to stretch the elastic (tied into a circle) with my ankle, to try and increase ankle strength - I am doing this for both legs, and pulling both to the outside and the inside. I will report back if I sense that this is helping build up by ankle strength/support.

[catkin]

Don't know if it will help you - one of the exercises I was given to do after I broke my ankle last year was to put the feet on the floor then 'lift' the inside/big toe side, then lift the outside/little toe side - I can feel it strengthening the ligaments and it has been useful - though I guess that my left ankle will never be quite the same again.

Stirrup irons with a moveable footplate have been a revelation - the slight change in angle has made it easier to relax the whole leg and use it properly.

[Heather]

Just a small to medium one is fine Yvonne. Thats a good exercise also, Cathy!!

[Naiad]

Just a small to medium one is fine Yvonne. Thats a good exercise also, Cathy!!

Heather, so you are standing (vs. sitting) while you do your exercise? I guess so as you can't really sit on a small ball and do what you say, unless I am missing something...

Thanks for the other exercise idea, Cathy.

P.S. Heather, I have some great photos up on my Facebook page from my Alaska cruise trip, so if you want to take a peek at some point - it was AMAZING! 

[Heather]

Standing, Yvonne .

My brother and sister in law are in Alaska now btw- they had 30 consecutive days of rain before they got there- was it ok when you were there? Weather has been great, if still cold for the last couple of days. Airline lost my brothers suitcase so he arrived from Dallas Fort Worth and 100 degrees, to the lower 50s wearing shorts, and nothing to change into!!

[tollertwins]

Mine still stick out even after the ligaments are loose, just due to conformation.

I put shims in the stirrups to keep my big toe up, that's helping quite a bit (altho my new hip doesnt like it).

Another possibility would be to get a pair of offset eye stirrups and put them on 'backwards' to normal.