What are the ankles good for, relative to stance work and mobility?

Question

What are the ankles good for? What is their most efficient use? I posited, somewhere else, that they are good to absorb the energy generated from moving out of a stance.

In martial practice, how can the ankles be used to maximize benefit?

Note - benefit is defined as minimum energy usage and maximum result in speed, power, mobility, and precision.

For instance - if doing a front-kick with the ball of the foot, if you chamber your leg (bring up the knee, keeping the foot down and tight) and keep the toes straight forward, when you extend the leg, the simple act of "keeping the foot facing forward" and raising the toes up to open the ball of the foot will increase leverage (like a pulley power multiplying system) and give the kick some more power, because you're activating the joint of the ankle.

Now, specifically, relating to being in a stance. For the purpose of not having to leave anything to the imagination, let us imagine this very, VERY specific situation:

Say I am in a horse stance. That is, my legs are approximately two to two-and-a-half shoulder-widths apart, my knees are approximately bent to 90 degrees, my back is approximately 90 degrees from my thighs (which are, of course, parallel to the floor), my lower back is relaxed, my hips aren't tight.

Oh, and I forgot a very important point, since we are talking about ankles - the feet are facing straight ahead, they are parallel to each other, and the shins are approximately vertical (that is, the knees are not "over the toes" or "past the toes"). The weight is distributed approximately equally between the front and the back of the foot.

Now, let's say I need to jump three feet forward and land in the same stance. Is there a particular way to use the ankles to get maximum efficiency, that is, use the minimum energy while providing maximum speed, balance and mobility?

Answer 1

I'm taking just this piece as the real question:

In martial practice, how can the ankles be used to maximize benefit?

Flexible ankles can significantly lower your stance (just bending them) in a much more natural way than trying to flex just your knees.

To lower my stance I prefer to just focus on flexing my ankles and forget about the knees. When you lower your stance in that way, the plant of your feet tends to open up a bit, improving stability.

Trying to move from such a stance (I mean footwork) also may change the inner structure of your movements. (but that's too difficult to explain here and probably OT). Ankles -not knees- are ultimately responsible for moving your weight from one leg to the other.

Another perk is the increased ability to absorb power (such as a front push). If you resist by deliberately flexing your ankles it will be more difficult to move you.

As the last thing, as every join, ankles must be kept aligned. A common mistake in many movements is letting the rear foot point backward.

And yes, there's a use for power: if you practice Fa jin ankles are involved as most other big joints. (you probably referred to this in your last paragraph, I'm not sure though)

Answer 2

What are the ankles good for?

This is a rather odd question so I will give a rather odd answer. One of the uses I have found for the feet/ankles is disarming techniques while lying on the ground. We practice this some (very little really) in FMA. Specifically, some stick disarms that are used while standing are also available while one is prone utilizing the feet. These disarms are typically those that don't require a lot of finesse. Since you can't as easily grasp anything with your toes (as you would with your fingers during a disarm), you have to rely more on your ankles to perform wraps, grabs and immobilizations. I will admit that it is a novelty, but a lot of fun to practice.

Answer 3

Ankles are your lowest pivot to move your body (while standing up, at least).

This means the ankles are key in any movement you do. Boxers pivot on the ball of their foot, through the ankles to get extra power. Many styles go up onto the ball of the foot to get a little extra reach, or drop back down to the heel to throw in bodyweight into downward strikes. Shifting foot direction (and therefore, knee alignment) alternatively through the ball of the foot or the heel is a common way to shift the centerline and your field of strength without taking full steps.

Basically, if you have to move your center of gravity in ANY fashion while standing, you're going to bring your ankles into it.

Probably most importantly, if the ankle goes, the person can't stand. Just like pulling the bottom blocks out of a Jenga Tower. Ankles are pretty strong as far as joints go, so the usual two methods of attacking them are either a full body weight attack upon the joint (very low sliding kicks, scissor kicks, staff/weapon strikes) or a hard twist via a grapple (which, actually destroys the knee ligaments rather than the ankle itself, but the inability to stand is still the same...).