Can you walk with your knees bent? Or walk on your tip toes? If you answered no, you probably have soleus trigger points.

Yesterday, we released an article on how “tight calf muscles can contribute low back pain” but today, we want share with, you a quick test that you can perform right now to see if you have possible trigger points affecting soleus full range of motion. If you are a runner who is experiencing low back pain this can be a very important muscle test for you.

Test for soleus trigger points:

Squat Test

Before, we explain to how to do the squat test, we want to point out that if you are older in age a certain amount of decrease muscle range of muscle may be present. And quad and glute muscle weakness could also hinder, your ability to perform this test so take care and proceed with caution.

We have outline on how to perform this test as if you were in our clinic but it does require a partner to assist you, of course you can perform this test by yourself but use a chair or a coach as support.Wear loose clothing preferably shorts

1. Have your partner stand in front of you reach out and grab your partner’s hands
2. You stand with your legs shoulder width apart and face your partner
3. Proceed to squat down slowly WITHOUT lifting your heels from the floor
4. Attempt to touch your buttocks with your calves while keeping your feet flat on the ground
5. Buttocks should be touching your calves

As you lower yourself pay attention to any restriction in your quadriceps muscle (quads) any tightness here must be address as well before you would be able to perform this squat test properly. Also visually mark the distance from your glutes and calves if you cannot get all the down. If this puts too much pain or strain on your low back as you perform this test “stop it”.

However if you are able to perform this without any hiccup or restriction then you have excellent range of motion in your calves and soleus muscles and this is negative test for you.

Robert’s testimonial

This is an important muscle test for me and I checked soleus range of motion regularly because of the amount of combined weight training and running that I do on a regular basis. I train with weights more than I run, so when my calves and quads muscles are tight, I lose stamina and I have a harder time with my runs. I often feel sluggish and heavy.

I train my muscles for hypertrophy and this makes my muscles become larger and tight. And if I am not stretching, my mobility becomes restricted. I feel this calf/soleus tightness throughout the kinetic chain with tight low back muscles and decreased shoulder mobility (yes, your arm swing is very important in your run). It is as if I am carrying a 10 lbs dumbbell in my hands which of course is increasing my energy expenditure.

Calf/soleus full range of motion is very important and I do this by getting deep tissue/trigger point therapy massage on this area. It can be extremely painful at first, but it gets easier and less painful as you work on this area more. Also foam rolling will also help to ease the pain of massage and help to improve R.O.M.  Also another important little fact if you suffer from poor circulation, cold or swollen feet these conditions are often associated with soleus tightness as well.