Effect of ankle dorsiflexion range of motion on rearfoot motion during walking

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the amount of ankle pa ssive dorsiflexion range of motion influences the pattern of frontal plane rearfoot motion during walking, Three-dimensional motion of the rearfoot wa s measured in two groups of subjects, those with ankle passive dorsiflexion range of motion less than or equal to 10 degrees, and those with ankle pas sive dorsiflexion range of motion greater than 15 degrees, while they walke d along a 6.1-m walkway. The results indicated that the only statistically significant differences between the two groups were in the time to reinvers ion of the rearfoot and the time to heel-off. Slight-to-moderate limitation of ankle passive dorsiflexion range of motion significantly alters the tim ing, but not the magnitude, of frontal plane rearfoot motion during walking .