2.2. Weight-Bearing Lunge Test

This test was used in order to measure dynamic ankle dorsiflexion range of motion from the right and left leg. There is strong evidence that a weight-bearing lunge test is recommended for ankle dorsiflexion assessment since good inter-clinician and intra-clinician reliability is provided (minimum detectable change: 4.6° and 4.7°, respectively) [10]. Participants were instructed to move into a weight-bearing lunge position, in which a foot stands in the front with a 90 degree knee and ankle flexion, whereas the back foot is in plantar flexion with the knee on the ground. Then, they lunged forward and the range of motion was measured.

The experiment consisted of a total of two repetitions (one for the left ankle and one for the right ankle) with a two-minute break between repetitions. The experiment was repeated two weeks later at the same time of day [28]. The range of motion of the left and right ankle repetitions was used for validity analysis, whereas test-retest reliability was analyzed by comparing the range of motion from the first to the second experiment of each ankle. In addition, participants were measured (without any type of warm-up) one by one by the same testers. One tester checked that the technique was correct, paying special attention to the front foot full heel contact with the ground. Another tester placed the instruments and a third collected the data.