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We know that there are no muscles running from the Achilles tendon over the hips to the pelvis, so as far as muscles alone are concerned, the angle of the ankle should not affect the forward bend. However we also know that there are structures that run all the way, from the soles of the feet, up the back of the legs, over the pelvis, and to the back - and higher. Notable are the sciatic nerve, and the fascia. I was experimenting how much ankle flexion affects a forward bend at the waist, under various conditions: 1. Sitting forward bend allowing the feet to flop forward as much as they wanted. 2. Sitting forward bend holding the feet nearly vertical. 3. Standing forward bend (feet horizontal on floor). 4. Standing forward bend with feet on wedge (flexed up by 25 degrees). 5. Downward dog (feet flexed by 35 degrees with respect to the legs). It turns out that allowing the feet to flop forward (by 60 degrees), holding them nearly vertical (extending forward by 10 degrees) and standing (extending forward by 10 degrees, because the legs werent quite vertical) produced almost exactly the same forward bend (lower spine flexed 35-42 degrees beyond a right angle with respect to the legs). However flexing the feet up (by 25 degrees) on the wedge, or 35 degrees up (in the downward dog, measured with respect to the legs) gave a marked reduction in the forward bend at the waist, with 5 and 8 degrees less than a right angle at the waist in the two cases. So ankle flexion does make a difference at the hips, if the feet are flexed. There is no difference if they are extended (in me, now - but not several years ago). This pattern probably reflects the pattern of fascia adaptation to the stretches that I have been doing over the years. I did not feel any nerve sensations, so I suspect it was all fascia. So that it is possible to visualise this, I attach first a composite of 3 positions superimposed, each layer oriented so that the legs nearly overlie. You can see a marked difference in the forward bend at the waist for the different positions of the ankle. I also attach a composite of the photos the mesuerments were made from. Jim.

Hi, I''m new to this forum, my name is Claude borel I've been following kit's channel for some time now and I haven't found better stretches anywhere else, they are all excellent. My objective is to have the best posture possible and I feel that I need to master the forward bend. When I try the forward bend I get a calf tightness so to fix this I tried the "single legged dog pose", fantastic stretch but I can't seem to progress anymore. I look like this guy: http://zmoore.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Andy-G-toe-touch.jpg In another post Kit once said that the main obstacles to the forward bend were calf tightness and piriformis tightness so I also tried the piriformis stretches. The only one that was effectve for me was the "easy version on youtube" but I have some sort of hip inpingement when I do it. The position sort of squeezes a nerve or something on the front part of the hip. What should I do? Thx for your replys