![]() These muscles may not need to be isolated in the average person looking to get healthy, but they are absolutely required to be trained for any hockey player looking to take their skating to the next level. Proprioception limits optimal ranges of motion because this safety-measure the body has in place will prevent you from creating deep angles on your inside/outside edges, and thus, reduce your skating potential.Įlite skaters like Crosby don’t have these warning signals in place because their ankle stability can both absorb and redirect very high levels of force, and because of this you regularly see him hit excellent edges on a moment’s notice and slip in and out of mohawk turns like they are nothing.Īnkle stability leads to superior proprioception, and superior proprioception leads to superior balance and awareness during high-speed movement.Īlthough ankle stability is trained using basic compound movements and plyometrics in the gym, there are muscles whose exclusive function in the body is to stabilize the ankle. You can think about it like how your body warns you before you drop down too low into the splits - it lets you know “Hey! You’re going to get injured if you go further than this.” ![]() If you’re skating and you’re unable to stabilize the ankle joint structure, the body will send alert signals to the brain warning that the tissue structure is in danger. Proprioception is the body’s ability to realize its place in space (think of having better “body awareness” out on the ice). Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, increased ankle stability leads to enhanced proprioception. In addition to lower body force production, strengthening the stabilizing muscles around the ankle helps prevent the chronic issues associated with high-velocity motion such as shin splints and tendonitis. The Importance of Ankle Stability in Hockey PerformanceĮlite hockey athletes must create a stable balance around the ankles because the greater amount of force the ankles can safely absorb and produce results in their ability to transfer into better edge work and overall better skating. We will get further into the mobility side of the equation below when we have a look at some research and then outline a plan of attack for both assessment and application, but right now I want to dive a little deeper into the importance of stability.
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