Electronic goniometer

Dorsiflexion RoM was measured with an electronic goniometer (Biovision, Wehrheim, Germany) fixed to the ankle joint with Leukotape^® (BSN medical S.A.S., Vibraye, France). Participants were first instructed to stay upright in a neutral position, with the ankle joint angle at 90°. They were then asked to step back with one leg and bring the ankle joint to maximum dorsiflexion, keeping their heel on the ground. The knee of the testing leg had to remain fully extended, and the knee of the opposite leg flexed. Both feet were kept in a parallel position, and hands could be placed on a wall to ensure balance. Special attention was given to the appropriate position of the stretched leg during the measurement to avoid any pronation of the foot. If some pronation was observed, the measurement was repeated. The difference between the maximum dorsiflexion and the position in rest (neutral position) was defined as the dorsiflexion RoM (Konrad & Tilp, 2014a , b (link); Konrad et al., 2015 ).