Gastrocnemius:
Press your knuckles into your client’s gastrocnemius at the achilles tendon. Glide up the gastrocnemius with your knuckles as your client dorsiflexes their ankle. Rotate the foot externally to work the medial aspect of the gastrocnemius.
Soleus:
The soleus does not cross the knee joint, so you can get a deeper stretch to it by flexing the knee slightly to relax the gastrocnemius, then dorsiflexing your clients ankle.
Flex your clients knee and rest their ankle on a bolster or your knee to work the soleus.
Caution:
Do not work into the popliteal area behind the knee.
1 thought on “Gastrocnemius And Soleus – STR”
This is a particularly good technique to use on runners, as they often have chronically tight soleus and gastrocnemius muscles. Make sure you do it if your client complains of pain in the plantar aspect of the foot because trigger points in these two muscles can refer pain to the heel or planter fascia.