Below you’ll find the transcript of this instructional video describing one of the most common tests at Motus Physio; the knee to wall screen test. The exercise uses a rule on the floor, perpendicular to the wall to take a base reading of how far back you can move your foot and lean in with your knee touching the wall, while maintaining form. Take it slow and follow the mechanics until your heel can no longer stay flat on the ground or your knee starts to flex inboard of your foot.
Check your baseline distance when you can no longer maintain any of the following:
- Your heel must remain flat to the floor.
- Your foot must remain at a right angle to the wall.
- Your knee must track straight forward and back above your foot (2nd or third toe is good).
Video transcript of the Knee to Wall Ankle Mobility Test by Trevor Millar.
This is Trevor from Motus Physiotherapy and I’m here to show you an assessment that we use a lot in the clinic a lot for an angle range of motion. Ankle restriction is very common and we see this often in the clinic.
For this assessment technique, we’re going to use a wall and I’ve got a ruler set up down here at a right angle to the wall.
I’m going to be slowly moving the foot that I’m going to be assessing towards the wall just so my toes bump up against the wall. I’m going to make sure my heel stays flat on the floor and then make sure my foot is at a right angle to the wall. Then I’m going to slowly move my knee forward over my second and third toes and I need to maintain all of those things as we progress through the assessment. Things to watch out for here is if your knee were to collapse or if you’re heel were to slide out with that would make this moment assessment look a little bit different. You want to make sure you maintain all of those points for form in order to get accurate readings.
So, I’m just going to slide my foot back from the wall a little bit each time while touching my knee to the wall each time. Move your foot back from the wall, little by little after each rep until you find the last point where you can maintain good form like a flat heel and a straight movement. Look down at the ruler and note how far our you have been able to move your foot. This is your baseline ankle range of motion. Note that number and perform the same steps with the other left.
What we’re looking for from this exercise is symmetry. We want both ankles to be about the same or have about the same range of motion. On average, a common, healthy range of motion is in the 10 or 12 cm or greater and there are a lot of things that can affect that. That’s not saying that other people can have less or more and that’s just fine as we’re all different.
That’s the basics of our ankle mobility wall screen and you can perform this at home as well. Just be sure to keep that form solid and keep that heel down. Measure both sides and see if there is a discrepancy.
And, by all means, contact us if you feel that you might not have the ideal range of motion and are looking for more feedback on how you can improve your range.
