Good ankle mobility is important whether you’re a gym-bunny or not. “In everyday life, walking, going up and down the stairs, running for the bus, being able to sit on your heels, being on all fours and even getting up from a chair with your heels down requires ankle mobility,” O’Leary says.

But if you do train regularly, having good mobility in your ankles is even more important. “Having good ankle range of motion is important when you are doing exercises like a squat, high step-up or lunges to name a few,” O’Leary says. “To get depth or height in these movements you need to be able to get your knee forwards over the ankle joint.”

If you struggle to reach full depth while doing exercises like squats or lunges, a lack of ankle mobility might be why. “There are ways around [a lack of ankle mobility] and you will see people squatting with plates or blocks under their heels. This is to allow for more range at the ankle, but ideally, you want to be able to have your feet on the ground,” O’Leary says, adding: “You may also find that because your ankle is limited you have reduced force production in things such as a ski erg, jumping and running.”

As well as decreasing the quality of movements, a lack of ankle mobility could also lead to injury, as other parts of your body during movements like these ones overcompensate for your lack of ankle movement. As the ankle is the first major joint that touches the floor when we move, this means that if the ankles lack mobility and land in the wrong way, the shock might be absorbed in a different part of the body, like the knees.

“Having the freedom in your ankle ensures that you do not compensate for the movement elsewhere and put undue strain on your hips and knees,” explains O’Leary.

Why good ankle mobility is important and how to improve yours