Ankle dorsiflexion in adolescent athletes.

Ankle equinus has been proposed to be associated with lower-extremity pathology. Physiologically normal measurements have been quantified in various populations. Forty high-school athletes (16 girls and 24 boys) without a history of ankle injury had ankle dorsiflexion measured with the knee extended and flexed by an experienced evaluator using a goniometer with the subjects supine. The group mean +/- SD dorsiflexion for the right ankle was 0.35 degrees +/- 2.2 degrees with the knee extended and 4.88 degrees +/- 3.23 degrees with the knee flexed. The values for the left ankle were -0.6 degrees +/- 2.09 degrees and 4.68 degrees +/- 3.33 degrees, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences between limbs using the Student t-test. In girls, values for right and left ankle dorsiflexion were 0.19 degrees +/- 2.1 degrees and -0.7 degrees +/- 2.3 degrees, respectively, with the knee extended and 4.88 degrees +/- 3.59 degrees and 4.88 degrees +/- 3.07 degrees, respectively, with the knee flexed. In boys, these values were 0.46 degrees +/- 2.3 degrees and -0.5 degrees +/- 1.98 degrees with the knee extended and 4.88 degrees +/- 3.04 degrees and 4.54 degrees +/- 3.55 degrees with the knee flexed. There were no statistically significant differences between boys and girls. Ankle dorsiflexion in asymptomatic adolescent athletes is approximately 0 degrees with the knee extended and just less than 5 degrees with the knee flexed.