Tibialis Anterior

Client: side-lying with a pillow under the head and between the lower legs
Therapist:  at the foot of the table or facing the front of the client’s lower legs

For this fulcrum you will use your ulna just distal to the elbow.  As you are standing at the side of the table facing the lower legs, you will usually use the arm nearer the head (i.e. right arm on the left leg and vice versa).  This stroke involves active movement by the client. Ask client to very slowly and fully flex and extend ankle (e.g. “ Please point your toes down and then lift your toes up.”). Explain the movement and have them try it once or twice.  This also gives them the basis for a “feeling comparison” afterward. You will be working just alongside the tibia from the ankle to just below the knee.  

Place your proximal ulna just above the client’s ankle and take out the looseness.  Ask him/her to begin slowly moving the ankle. Add additional vectors, slowly and deeply moving up through the tibialis anterior until you reach the attachment beneath the knee.  Follow with the client’s repeating the movement on their own and feeling how much freer they are.

Purposes:

a)  lessen compression of the anterior compartment

b)  enhance circulation through tibialis anterior

c)  free the extensor tendons from the retinacula

d)  restore life to the medial longitudinal arch

e)  free the energy flowing through the leg (particularly through the stomach meridian)

f) enhance grounding

Image Source: physioadvisor.com.au