Want healthy knees Focus on ankle and hip mobility

It may sound counterintuitive, but when we have knee issues, where do we focus most of our attention? The knees, right? You know what else? Thats a big part of the problem.The fact of the matter is that knee issues are typically due to issues at other areas of the body, not the knees themselves. Lack of hip mobility in all planes can not only lead to knee pain, but back pain as well. Eric Cressey and I covered about a zillion hip mobility exercises in our Magnificent Mobility DVD, so Id highly suggest checking it out.However, one area we didnt cover as in-depth was ankle mobility, and this area is often poorly addressed, or worse yet, not addressed at all. After reviewing Mike Boyles Functional Strength Coach DVD series, I realized how poor sagittal plane ankle mobility is in many athletes. Here are some drills to help out.In the first exercise, all youre going to do is set up next to a wall with your feet a few inches away from it (you may even want to start with your toes touching the wall at first). Rest your hands on the wall, place all your weight on your heels, and then stay tall and try to shoot your knees over your toes In this second exercise, youre going to place a small board underneath your toes to put you into a dorsiflexed position. I find it easiest to place this board in front of the wall so you can balance yourself with your hands. While staying tall, youre again going to try and shoot your knees over your toes. Dont worry if there isnt a ton of range of motion at first; itll improve as you practice it.