Someone studying physiotherapy (PT) asked me how to best stretch the gastrocnemius. Lets start with the idea that a stretch is simply making a muscle longer, which is simply doing the opposite of the muscles (concentric/shortening) actions. So a stretch should never have to be memorized; it can be figured out. The gastrocnemius is a plantarflexor at the ankle joint and a flexor of the knee joint, so we need the ankle joint to be dorsiflexed and the knee joint to be extended. Here is a figure from my Muscle and Bone Palpation Book (also translated into 6 other languages) learnmuscles/books_palp.html - Joe Muscolino
Posted on: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 13:04:23 +0000