I would also be interested in this. Also some advice on how to actually reclaim proper ankle position during day to day mobement?
Not just during exercise where I can create torque through the system and keep the arch high and in a good position.
During walking for example, my ankle collapses inwards. Is this more of a strengthening issue rather than mobility? The only way I can seem to stop the ankle caving in is to walk on the outsides of my feet. Is this right?
Cheers

It sounds like the foot needs to be strengthened.
The construction of your shoe has been making the correction for you not your foot.
Do you have an arch?
Are you missing internal rotation?
Here are a couple episodes that start to address it.
Episode 54: Pinchy Ankles and Weak Feet
Episode 07: Bro, Your Navicular Bone Dropped
Episode 293: Haiku Winner, Travel Ideas, And Your Feet
Rebuilding Your Feet With Brian MacKenzie
Rebuilding The Feet, Part 2
Rebuilding the feet, Part 3
Pro Episode #3 – The Flat Feet Solution
Daily Rx Saturday, August 17th, 2013

Heel Mobilizations

Yes, you may wear minimalist shoes, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything you will need to address.
If anything they will show you everywhere that needs attention.
The situation may be slowly correcting itself, but there may be alot of ground to cover.
Getting the other areas in check will help to improve what you are experiencing.

I have the exact same issue on my right foot after 30 years of poor walking, running, and all round activity. (due to Perthe’s in my right hip when I was 9)

Some things I’ve found that help me solve the ‘push off’ / ‘toe off’ part of walking, where the foot collapses and effectively whips round to the front as opposed to being swung and brought through to the front:

1- at toe off, concentrate / think about lifting the foot off the ground rather than pushing off. It’s a subtle difference, but it’s a real difference. This will make you have what feels like a ‘lighter’ contact with the ground too.

2- lift off from the middle of the ball of the foot / foot pad as opposed to the part of the ball under the big toe, or the part nearer the pinky toe.

3- try and feel a sensation of ‘braced stiffness’ on both the outside and inside of the ankle, below each malleolus whilst your foot is in contact with the ground. I say this lightly, because the food needs to stay loose and fluid, so it’s a fine balancing act. But it will help you keep your arch.

4- lift the foot through from toe off to heel strike as opposed to swinging it around – this will feel very strange at first.

those are some of the strategies that are working for me. As well  as the rebuilding your feet exercises and some other tips I’ve received from the wonderful Kaitlin on here.

Give them a go and see what you think – I would love another perspective on them. I’m learning to walk at the age of 39! who would have thought that was needed? onwards and upwards.

I’ve also had a similar issue.

Try this and please respond with your results.

Get behind a table, chair, pole, etc, that you can hold.  Now take one leg and while maintaining foot contact with your entire foot to the floor, apply external rotation to your leg. I will usually feel tension in 2 areas. 1 – the big toe, and thus through the foot, which is optimally felt when you think about screwing your feet into the ground. 2 – the knee.

Now don’t over torque your leg. Just enough to put tension on your tissues. While keeping this tension, descend while keeping your knee behind your toes. Sort of like a squat, except this is more ROM type work, so you can support your body weight with your other leg and brace yourself by holding onto the chair, table, pole in front of you. Get your butt all the way to your ankle. Pressure should still be kept.

The key here is in order to maintain the arch, you should maintain the tension in your big toe. Now that you’re at the bottom, push your big toe hard into the ground while screwing your foot, and rise. Hopefully you’ve been able to keep your arch through this entire movement by keeping tension throughout the entire leg and foot.

Now the key for me to maintain my arch has been to focus on the tissues that have tension through this movement. I’ve discovered that I never really used my big toes before. I’m also realized that I never used my popliteus as much as I should. Lastly, my inner thigh muscles finish the connection of this movement with my hips and torso. If you can focus on repeating this motion, and strengthening the muscles you feel are weak – you should be able to start maintaining an arch.

For me it’s weird because I now understand the concept of torque in the body and how it creates the arch – but it’s hard to think that as I move (generally) forward through the world, that I have to create a rotation in my legs.  Additionally, I have to create this rotation almost the instant I land on that foot. Previously, my muscles felt too weak to do this, and that I might tear something if I tried during a run or anything more than a controlled walk.

Now I can do so during walking and running, but still have issues during jump takeoff and landing.

Let me know if this helps! 😀