The Tibialis Anterior (TA) receives little attention in fitness and yoga other than in locating where the muscle is in the body and what it does from anatomic position, namely, dorsiflexion of the ankle and inversion of the foot. According to the Trail Guide to the Body by Andrew Weil, TA inserts at the medial cuneiform and base of first metatarsal, and originates at proximal lateral surface of tibia and interosseous membrane. It crosses only one joint – the ankle – and is not strongly lengthened or shortened due to knee flexion or extension.

The remainder of this article contains a few surprises and recommendations.

TA gets a bad wrap with shin splints. The average explanation is often: TA controls the lowering of the foot upon heel strike, stressing this movement can increase chances of injury and running, jumping, and sports with rapid starts and stops are likely to cause shin splint injuries. A second, more specific explanation is that the numerous eccentric actions performed by TA to prevent plantarflexion just after heelstrike created overuse injury. Setting aside discussion about rehab and recovery, the most common recommendation to avoid injury is stretching and strengthening TA before running. I will share why I understand this reasoning to be incomplete and incorrect at another time.

When in anatomical position, or statically in yoga asana, TA does dorsiflex and invert the foot; however, this is not the case in function, i.e., gait and running. Instead, we see that TA a) decelerates plantarflexion at heelstrike (prevents foot slapping down) and b) decelerates eversion in midstance in gait. TA is part of a synergistic sling along with Tibialis Posterior and Peroneus Longus on the bottom of the foot, all helping to create and support the arch of the foot. By sensing the TA during gait, one discovers that TA is most active after midstance as the knee passes from posterior to anterior after midstride. We’re literally pulling up our arches by our bootstrap, helping resist a full eversion of the foot with each stride. Yes, TA is also active at tow-off and heel strike, but unlike these forces are much less than just after midstance and can be minimized through mindfulness, which actually optimizes the run. The boostrap action cannot be minimized in any meaningful way and handles the greatest forces.

Put another way, TA is constantly resisting collapse of the arch eccentrically while dissipating ground-reaction forces many times the weight of one’s body. Thus shin splints [1] are cultivated by undertrained muscles doing too many reps (steps) with too much load (especially sprinting). Likewise, anyone using any muscle group to rapidly and eccentrically slow down a weight they are not properly trained for will experience massive tearing in that muscle group! It is the same for running. Stretching before running may help some people, but suggesting stretching of the TA to prevent shin splints is akin to stretching biceps before catching an anvil. The biceps will simply tear.

The answer then is to dramatically improve the TA’s ability to handle forces, that is, to strengthen the TA, while removing obstacles to its smooth functioning, including excessive tightness in the gastrocnemius, soleus, and through the core.

Further, cleaning up the biomechanics of gait and running by shortening stride length will help significantly, but not because of the oft-given reason that the TA is additionally lengthened from increased stride as it attempts to prevent the foot from slapping down (decelerating plantar flexion). The foot simply does not have enough weight or inertia to require extra length from TA just after heelstrike. It is the extra forces between midstance and toe-off that concern us; the longer stride requires TA to handle more force (greater distance and shorter times) after midstride, thus dramatically increasing the forces TA must eccentrically manage.

What to do then? Adjust your stride length to your body as it is. Remove any unnecessary tension so that stride is smooth as possible. Optimize the run.

Yoga to the rescue?

In yoga asana practice, TA is going to awaken/activate whenever the foot concentrically inverts or dorsiflexes, as in Virabadrasana 1, or purely dorsiflexes, as in Utkatasana or Malasana. A deep squat aiming to make vertical the spine with arms overhead is an excellent way to statically strengthen the TA. But…

There’s more to be discovered by thinking integrally

A complete injury prevention program would also include mindful functional movement with increasing forces. Training to improve running performance and reducing the chance of shin splints should include

1. static strengthening in TA’s most shortened positions of dorsiflexion and inversion, as in yoga asana, including:
   • Trikonasana & Virabadrasana I: will stretch antagonists and likely require active Tibialis Anterior in order to touch heel to floor.
   • Utkatasana will naturally recruit Tibialis Anterior
   • Paschimottanasana, especially if reciprocal inhibition is worked with.
2. joint mobility in multiple directions of movement with various degrees of hip and knee flexion in open and closed-chain, as in Yoga Tune Up®, including the following select Yoga Tune Up Inspired Poses:
   • Assymetrical Uttanasana with associated reciprocal inhibition
   • Wall Squat Arms up with Block
   • Walk the Plank Minivini
   • and many more
3. functional and primal movement patterns in three planes of motion moving toward controlled and progressive challenges to TA’s eccentric strength, available in few programs including The Epic Workout.

Good luck!