How to Stop Tripping When Walking (20 Second Fix)

This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in February 2025. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/Us__eg_4H1A

Brad: The most common causes for falls in people over 50 like myself are ankle problems.

Mike: Yes, and more specifically, one ankle motion can be the main culprit for these falls.

Brad: But the good news for you is we're going to actually show you a way to test it and how to stretch it out so you can correct this problem.

Mike: So we're actually going to go through a range of ways to test for tight ankles and also some exercises and stretches you can do, so you can not fall as often.

Brad: Right, so in a seated chair, you're going to find out if your ankle lacks dorsiflexion. You'll see what that is in a second. There are three ways to test it, two active and one passive. The first one, sit in a chair with your knees bent at 90 degrees. Have a pair of shoes on. It works better, I think. And we're going to just simply pull up our toes with our heels on the floor as much as we can. Now, if you look at this, I cannot pull my right ankle up as far as my left one. So I'm lacking range of motion.

Brad: That tests the soleus, a deep muscle in the lower leg. There's another muscle that could be causing a problem, and you're going to do that in a long seated position, which is what Mike is in right now. And you put your feet together, and you simply pull up. Now, if we look at this, we've got a lack of range of motion again in the right ankle, and that's what we have. Normally, we should go equal, but Mike's actually going to pretend he's got a tight ankle like that.

Brad: So in both cases, the right ankle does not pull up as far, and that's where you have the problem when you walk, and that toe can catch because you're not able to pull it up, so it has a swing through without interference of the floor or stick or whatever.

Brad: Now, we need to find out if the tissues, the muscles, can be stretched so that you eliminate that problem, and you simply do that by using the wall. And you take a ruler. This is called what?

Mike: The five-inch wall test.

Brad: Right, actually, I looked it up, and it said 10 to 12 centimeters, I think that's the same as five inches.

Mike: I'm more of an inch person.

Brad: There you go. It doesn't really matter, but what we're going to do is still testing the same thing: you put your toe until it's about five inches away from the wall, heel flat, and see if you can touch your knee to the wall.

Mike: Now, Brad's cheating really badly because he's rotating his hips out to the side, so he's a cheater.

Brad: Yeah, my heel's starting to come up, so that ankle is a little tight compared to that test. And if I go with my right ankle, and if things are consistent with the other test, you're probably going to find that the distance between the wall and the kneecap is even farther on the tighter ankle, and that means we need to stretch those tissues out or that muscle out by using a simple stretch. We'll get into that in a second.

Brad: So, you can simply see if you're, and you'll notice that after you do all three tests, and you can say, "Oh, I never noticed that the ankle did not move as well as before." So we're going to get after it and correct it. All right, three good aggressive options to stretch out those muscles and that Achilles tendon. The first one is simply to use the wall. It's kind of like the test that we did with the foot five inches away, but we're going to go further away. Toes straight towards the wall, heel glued to the floor. In other words, don't let it come up, flatten it out, not turned out. And I'm going to lean with a straight knee and stretch, and we're going to relax and breathe and hold that for 15 to 30 seconds. You're actually going to stretch both ankles even though one of them is probably tighter than the other, because I want to keep the other one from getting tight as well.

Brad: And then after you do one with a straight knee, then bend the knee, and you're going to feel a little bit different stretch. That's because it's working that soleus. It's a deep muscle that's closer to the tibia bone. And you're going to hold that 15 to 30 seconds.

Brad: Do that two to three times on each leg, and that'll give you a nice stretch. Now, there's another option, and you can try all these, see which one works best for you. You may want to combine it. Using the steps.

Mike: So all three of these stretch the calves like Brad kind of mentioned. Just pick your favorite one. I feel like this is more aggressive than the wall stretch. You go to the end of a step, hold on, and you're going to get your forefoot on the step, but then drop your heels down. You're going to feel a good stretch. Make sure to keep your knees with this, and gravity's just gonna pull down, and you're going to feel a really good stretch. Hold it for like 30 seconds. If you notice one side is tighter than the other and it's limiting your tight side or your good side, you could do this individually, but just be aware it's much more aggressive because all your body weight is going through one calf muscle now.

Brad: Right, and I highly recommend doing this with a pair of shoes on, maybe with rubber soles so that it actually grips the steps. Actually, carpeted stairs don't work as well, but you can try it.

Mike: The knee bent stretch doesn't work as well on the stairs like this. This is better just to work your gastrocnemius.

Brad: There is one other option I want to mention is if you get an incline board like this, you can purchase, and they're not too expensive. They're about 20 degrees, and these work so well because they're effortless. You just simply stand on them, and they're really comfortable compared to going off the edge of the step in my opinion, and it's less work than going on the wall stretch.

Brad: So you can build them, actually. I made this one. We have a YouTube video on how to make an ankle stretch board if you're handy-dandy. Otherwise, you don't need to have one. Now let's go to, after you stretch like this two to three times per day for a week, that should be enough to loosen that ankle up. You can retest again, but you should find some improvement. Now we need to strengthen the muscle that pulls the toe up into dorsiflexion and clear that foot as we swing through, eliminating the trips. This is one of the things I like to do. Simply lean up against the wall. It's an easy, kind of lazy exercise, but it works well. And I'm just going to go up like this.

Brad: Compare one with the other. If you're going like this, my right foot's a little lacking, so I'm going to work that one a little bit more, and we're going to do it again, five to 10 steps like that. Mike, do you have another option?

Mike: If this becomes too easy for you, just bring your feet further away from the wall.

Brad: Ooh, yeah.

Mike: Typically, with this, we want to get 30 repetitions total and take your time slowly with it. If you struggle with this, you may be cheating by kind of bending your knees. I've noticed that in some people, meaning myself, when I first started this exercise. So it's just a good way to kind of do it. There are more advanced ways to strengthen this, but for most people who are in the older population, this is a good option, and this is probably all they really need.

Brad: That's right. There is one other thing you can do that's going to help your balance. Simply get a Booyah Stik, a cane, or hold onto the wall, cupboard, and we're going to actually just work pulling up like this, and I'm working my balance now, so you get a little balance activity along with the strengthening. And actually, if you want to try to walk on your heels, it can give some good isometric strengthening to those anterior tibialis muscles right there.

Brad: Use good judgment with that one; that's optional, if you feel like you wanna be a little more advanced because you hike a lot on uneven terrain, etc.

Mike: I would even add that you could do calf raises with those as well. So you could go backwards.

Brad: Please demonstrate.

Mike: We call this heel-to-toe rocking, but if you go backwards and then up on your toes, now you're actually strengthening both directions. Hold on to support because a lot of people, if you feel unsteady at all, they feel like they're going to tip backwards. So just make sure to have good posture. Keep your trunk upright.

Mike: Most of the time, I see people cheating. They start sticking their buttock out and get their hips involved, so.

Brad: I don't call it cheating, Mike. I refer to it as compensating.

Mike: Oh, they compensate.

Brad: People feel a lot better if you say you're compensating than if you say you're cheating.

Mike: I call them cheaters, and they usually laugh a little bit.

Brad: That's why your patients don't like you.

Mike: Probably. Anyway.

Brad: All right, let's get serious. Let's finish up. Now, let's go to this other video. This was a nice video because it actually has a PDF printout of the exercise that goes along with it, which is a big bonus. What is it?

Mike: So, "25 Second Balance Exercises That Stop Falls." So if you're still struggling with falls, you checked your ankle motion, it's good, they're strong, they move well, check this video out because maybe the issue you have resides in that video.

Brad: That's right. Please print out the exercise and mail it to family members as well.

Mike: Tell them they're doing it wrong.

Brad: Oh, Mike. Have a good day. Enjoy the day.