In our movement sessions this week in my membership, we are focusing on the talus bone, the part of the ankle joint that the tibia sits on and rides forwards and backwards in space. As riders and horse people, we typically notice our ankles a lot; for a few different reasons they’re an area that can hold a lot of tension and depending on our own body patterning assist or block us in harmonizing with the movement of our horse.
From a biomechanics perspective, it’s a common pattern to see riders creating force pressure down to achieve the upward movement in the rising trot, or to maintain balance in the canter. When the ankles are used as part of this leverage system (ankles, knees and tailbones fall into the “most likely suspects category” here) it creates a point of compression that reverberates through the rest of the body and is part of our fight flight movement patterning on the whole.
In the parasympathetic nervous system, the talus bone relates to the first three toes of the foot. When it’s in this position, the dome like structure can easily move forwards and backwards, allowing the shin to lever and movement to be fluid all the way up the leg.
The navicular bone is just below it, and in the fight flight system, it twists to face more towards the pinky toe, causing the talus bone to change its orientation and create more compression in the joint.
Because of the fascial train attachments- the deep front line at the back and the superficial front line at the front- opening the joint space around this area and re-establishing optimal movement creates big change; the deep front line has more tone and length generally, affecting the movement of the organ bag and structures all the way up to the head, not to mention mobilizing the centreline.
From an emotional perspective, the talus is one of the epicenters of guilt and shame in the body. When we feel “stuck” or unable to move forward because of leaving something behind, causing hurt feelings, not taking someone or something with you (amongst other things), this presents as a stuckness in the talus. It is literally our “moving forward” structure.
Who knew our little ankle bones could hold so many stories.
Onwards.
❤️ Jane
If you’re interested in learning more about the membership or joining us for the Talus movement sessions, you can do so here!
