Transverse plane motion at the ankle joint.

The ankle is often considered to have little or no capacity to move in the transverse plane. This is clear in the persistent concept that it is the role of the subtalar joint to accommodate the transverse plane motion of the leg while the foot remains in a fixed transverse plane position on the floor. We present data from noninvasive in vivo study of the ankle subtalar complex during standing internal and external rotation of the leg and study of the ankle subtalar complex during walking. These data reinforce the results of cadaver study and invasive in vivo study of the ankle/subtalar complex. We suggest that the ankle is capable of considerable movement in the transverse plane (generally greater than 15 degrees) and that its role in the mechanism that allows the foot to remain in a fixed transverse plane position on the floor while the leg rotates in the transverse plane, is not simply the transfer of the transverse plane moment to the subtalar joint, but is accommodation of some of the necessary movement.