Heel Raised Squats: Help or Hinder

by Chuck Wolf

The heel wedge has been used as a tool with the squat for different reasons, such as to get more gluteal involvement, more quadriceps recruitment, it is easier on the knees or back, or their clients have difficultly getting into a good squat position. What ever the reason, it is vital the trainer have the rationale for the use of a heel wedge when implementing the tool. The view of this article is not to express opinion of the heel wedge usage, but to inform the trainer of the biomechanical reaction changes that occur due to its use.

If the reason for the wedge is the client has difficulty getting into good squat position, the trainer then must evaluate what is the limitation that inhibits this movement pattern. Then those limitations should be addressed rather than placing a “band-aid” approach for any possible cause.

The Mechanics of Deceleration/Acceleration

Before exploring into the mechanics of the squat, we must first gain a grasp of a few noteworthy principles. The discussion of human motion actions and positions of bony structures are described in terms of the position of the distal bone in relation to the proximal bone. As motion transforms from the ground up, the distal bones move slightly faster than the proximal bones, therefore providing the description relative position of structures. For instance in gait, in foot pronation, the chain reaction causes the tibia to rotate slightly faster than the femur. Since the tibia is distal to the femur and is internally rotated to a greater degree than the femur during pronation, the knee can be described as internally rotated.

Table 1, created by Gary Gray, P.T., clearly describes the positions/actions of the joints from the foot through the hip. This table shows the tri-plane functions of these joints in supination and pronation. If the trainer studies this grid, they will understand the chain reactions that occur from the ground up in of human movement..

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