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Tibialis raise

Also called tib raise, reverse calf raise

Lifting the front of the foot toward the shin, called dorsiflexion. What lab studies of dorsiflexion training measured, since none tested the wall-supported tibialis raise itself.

Region
Lower leg
Muscles
tibialis anterior, extensor digitorum longus, extensor hallucis longus
Updated
October 23, 2026
Reviewed
October 23, 2026 · how entries are checked

Movement

What the evidence covers

This page is about training dorsiflexion, with the tibialis raise as its everyday example. No study behind this page measured the wall-supported tibialis raise itself. The studies used lab equipment, such as isokinetic machines, which hold a limb to a fixed speed, and elastic bands1,8. One study measured heel walking, as part of a set of foot drills2.

The muscles that lift the foot

Muscles in the front compartment of the lower leg generally lift the foot, while those at the back generally point it9. The tibialis anterior is the largest of the four muscles in that front compartment10. It mainly lifts the foot and turns the sole inward, which is called inversion10. Two long toe extensors, the extensor hallucis longus and extensor digitorum longus, also help raise the front of the foot9.

What it loads

The tibialis anterior

In 22 college students without outer-ankle sprains, tibialis anterior activity was higher during every Ebbets foot drill, including heel walking, than in normal walking2. Across the drills, the rise ranged from 4.0% to 68.3%2.

In one study, 17 healthy people did four sets of dorsiflexions against an elastic band8. Over the final 20 contractions, the tibialis anterior was more active when blood flow to the leg was restricted8. The same people rated the restricted sessions more painful, difficult and uncomfortable8.

The tibialis anterior tendon

The tibialis anterior starts on the outer side of the tibia (shin bone), and its tendon attaches on the inner border of the foot10. The tendon data below come from lab tests and scans, not from the exercise11,12.

In five men at maximum isometric load, with no joint movement, the tendon carried about 530 N (newtons, a unit of force)11. It stretched about 4.1 mm11. That is a strain, or stretch as a share of resting length, of about 2.5%11. In five men, the tendon’s stiffness at maximum isometric load was 161 N/mm11. As load rose, the tendon strained 61–64% less than the muscle’s aponeurosis, a broad, flat sheet of tendon13.

The tendon’s moment arm, its leverage at the ankle, changes with foot position12. At rest, estimates from MRI and ultrasound scans put it at about 4.5 cm with the foot lifted12. With the foot pointed, it fell to about 2.9 cm12. In six people scanned with MRI, it was 0.9–1.5 cm larger during maximum isometric dorsiflexion than at rest14.

How the body adapts

Muscle size and shape

The two studies that measured muscle size found different results1,4. In 12 trained young men, 18 sessions of isokinetic dorsiflexion over 6 weeks made the tibialis anterior about 8% thicker on ultrasound1. It thickened similarly whether a leg trained with concentric (lifting) or eccentric (lowering) contractions1. In another study, 44 adults trained the lower leg for 8 weeks, with two sessions each week4. MRI showed no change in any age group in tibialis anterior cross-sectional area, the size of a slice across the muscle4.

The muscle’s inner shape changed too1. In the 12 trained young men, fascicle length (the length of the bundles of muscle fibres) rose about 6%, but only in the eccentric leg1. Pennation angle, the angle of the fibres against the muscle’s line of pull, rose 8% with concentric and 4% with eccentric training1.

Muscle length during training also mattered in 13 adults who trained isometric dorsiflexion for 8 weeks15. One leg trained with the foot at 0 degrees, the short length, and the other with the foot pointed 40 degrees, the long length15. Fascicle length fell about 3% after short-length training and rose about 4% after long-length training15.

Strength across the ankle’s range

In the 12 trained young men, isometric torque (turning force) rose about 8% with both concentric and eccentric training1. Concentric training raised it only at shorter muscle lengths1. Eccentric training raised it at shorter and longer lengths1. Eccentric training also gave larger gains in lowering torque, 13% against 3%, and in lifting torque, 17% against 9%1.

In 13 young adults, isometric training at the long length broadened the plateau of the torque-angle relationship16. That relationship describes how much turning force a muscle makes at each joint angle. Neither training length gave a clear improvement in resistance to fatigue16.

Speed and the nervous system

In five people who trained fast dorsiflexions for 12 weeks, both maximal strength and the speed of a fast dorsiflexion rose17. The authors mainly put the speed gain down to the nervous system, because the timing of the muscle’s own twitch did not change17. A motor unit is a nerve cell and the muscle fibres it switches on. After training, tibialis anterior motor units came on earlier and fired faster in fast contractions17. The share of units firing pairs of very closely spaced signals, called doublets, rose from 5.2% to 32.7%17.

Training one leg strengthens both

Training one leg also raised strength in the other in two studies3,18. This is called cross-education, where an untrained limb gets stronger when only the other one trains.

  • In 19 people, 5 weeks of hard one-leg dorsiflexion training raised maximal isometric force by 14.7% in the trained leg3. The untrained leg gained 8.4%3.
  • In the same study, plantar flexor (the muscles that point the foot down) force did not change in either leg3.
  • Of 44 healthy female students, those who did 12 sessions of one-leg isokinetic ankle training over 4 weeks got stronger in both legs18. Gains in the training groups were 8–41% in the trained leg and 5–26% in the untrained leg18.
  • In that study, the untrained leg gained to the same extent whether training was slow or fast18.

Age and sex

In the 44 adults aged 20–30, 50–65 or over 70, dorsiflexion strength did not improve in middle-aged women or in men over 704. The other groups gained, at up to 1.25 N·m (newton-metres) a week in young men4. In that study, the standardised strength response was smaller in dorsiflexion than in plantar flexion, pointing the foot down4.

Other studies of older adults found mixed results19,20,21:

StudyTrainingDorsiflexion strength
Older adults, about 71, against a group that kept usual habits4 weeks of supervised isometric trainingMaximal force up 17.6%19
28 older adults, about 70, split between dorsiflexor and hip trainingNine sessions lifting 15% of maximal forceMaximal torque did not change; the dorsiflexor group improved only force steadiness20
Review of 16 trials in 651 older peopleAnkle-foot exercisesNo significant change, very low-quality evidence21

In the 13 older adults who trained for 4 weeks, tibialis anterior motor units fired faster19. Firing rose 8.2% when a unit first came on, and 11.3% at constant force19.

After a hard bout of lowering

Hard bouts of lowering cut dorsiflexion strength in two lab studies22,23. In one, 21 recreationally active young adults did five sets of 30 lowering contractions, each at 80% of their maximal torque22. Maximal torque fell 28% and power fell 8%22. Maximal torque did not fully recover, and power had not fully recovered 30 minutes later22. The authors read the incomplete recovery of torque, among other changes, as a sign of muscle damage22.

In 26 young adults, 200 maximal eccentric dorsiflexor contractions cut maximal isometric torque by about 24%23. After the same bout 4 weeks later, torque recovered sooner, which is the repeated bout effect23. The fatigue, the damage and this later protection did not differ between the 13 women and the men23.

Dorsiflexion strength and falls

Three studies compared the dorsiflexion strength of older people who had fallen with those who had not, and they disagree5,6,7.

  • In 11 older women who had fallen and 12 who had not, the fallers had lower adjusted dorsiflexion and plantar flexion strength scores5.
  • One study compared 20 women aged 65 or over, each with at least three falls in the past year, and 15 with no falls6. The fallers were not significantly weaker on any measure except dorsiflexion adjusted for body weight6.
  • Among 51 older adults living in nursing homes, those who had fallen in the past year had higher isometric dorsiflexion force7. The authors suggest this may reflect greater reliance on these muscles7.

Injuries

No injury linked to the tibialis raise, or to dorsiflexion training, was found in the research behind this page. The nearest findings are the strength losses after hard lowering in the lab, described above22,23.

Progressive overload

A 2026 position stand describes progressive overload as the need to increase the stimulus placed on the muscle throughout a training programme24. These studies trained dorsiflexion on lab machines1,4,25.

Sets, repetitions and load

Who trained, and for how longWhat each programme did
31 untrained men, 4 weeks12 isokinetic sessions, 3 a week, of 5 sets of 6 at 80% of maximal contraction, with 2 minutes of rest25
12 trained young men, 6 weeks18 isokinetic sessions of 2 to 4 sets of 6 to 10 maximal repetitions1
44 adults of three age groups, 8 weeksTwice a week, 6 sets of 10 maximal isokinetic repetitions, with 1 minute of recovery4
13 older adults, about 71, 4 weeks4 sets of 10 rapid isometric contractions past 75% of maximal force, and 3 sets of 10 held at 75% for 3 seconds19
5 people, 12 weeks10 sets of 10 fast dorsiflexions against 30–40% of maximal strength, 5 days a week17

In the trial of 31 untrained men, maximal strength was measured again after 2 weeks, and the training load adjusted where needed25. Sessions 6 and 12 dropped from 80% to 50% of maximal contraction, to limit fatigue before testing25.

How soon gains appeared

  • In 10 people doing 6 sets of 10 maximal contractions 3 times a week, strength rose 10% by week 2 and 18% by week 426. Nothing tested changed in 10 controls26.
  • In 28 older adults, about 76, 2 weeks of training, 3 days a week, raised peak torque (greatest turning force) 27% lifting and 20% lowering27.
  • In 14 healthy people, 4 weeks of explosive training raised the rate of torque development, how fast turning force rises, by 24–33%28.

What was trained is what got stronger

In the trial of 31 untrained people, lifting training raised lifting strength more, and lowering training raised lowering strength more25. In 15 healthy, active older women, about 68, who trained lowering dorsiflexion standing for 8 weeks, standing peak torque rose29. They also trained lifting plantar flexion, and dorsiflexion rose 30% lifting and 17% lowering29. Measured lying on the back, strength did not change significantly, and the authors note the gains were specific to the training position29.

A two-week break

In the trial of 31 untrained people, strength was maintained after 2 weeks of detraining, the loss of training gains when training stops25.

Connections

The tendon dorsiflexion loads

In the lab studies, dorsiflexion loaded the tibialis anterior tendon, which runs to the inner border of the foot10,11. A meta-analysis of how human tendons without symptoms adapt to loading found 27 studies, all on the Achilles or patellar tendon30. Whether those results apply to the tibialis anterior tendon is not known from these sources.

The opposite movement

In one study of trained men, the authors suggested the calf raise can recruit the calf muscles31. Those muscles, at the back of the leg, point the foot down9.

Tibialis raise loads

Tibialis raise is progressed by

Sources

  1. Nunes JP, Nosaka K, Blazevich AJ (2025). The Training Specificity Versus Structural Adaptation Paradox: Differential Effects of Isokinetic Concentric and Eccentric Resistance Training on Muscle Architecture and Function in Young Men.. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. doi:10.1111/sms.70166 PMID 41427667
  2. Archuleta QA, McIlvain G, Leigh S, Timmons MK (2024). Lower leg muscle activation during the ebbets foot drills.. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. doi:10.1016/j.jbmt.2024.02.014 PMID 38876639
  3. Dragert K, Zehr EP (2011). Bilateral neuromuscular plasticity from unilateral training of the ankle dorsiflexors.. Experimental Brain Research. doi:10.1007/s00221-010-2472-3 PMID 21069308
  4. Psatha M, Wu Z, Gammie F, Ratkevicius A, Wackerhage H, Redpath TW, Gilbert FJ, Meakin JR, Aspden RM (2017). Age-related changes in the effects of strength training on lower leg muscles in healthy individuals measured using MRI.. BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine. doi:10.1136/bmjsem-2017-000249 PMID 28761720
  5. LaRoche DP, Cremin KA, Greenleaf B, Croce RV (2010). Rapid torque development in older female fallers and nonfallers: a comparison across lower-extremity muscles.. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology. doi:10.1016/j.jelekin.2009.08.004 PMID 19782579
  6. Skelton DA, Kennedy J, Rutherford OM (2002). Explosive power and asymmetry in leg muscle function in frequent fallers and non-fallers aged over 65.. Age and Ageing. doi:10.1093/ageing/31.2.119 PMID 11937474
  7. Del-Cuerpo I, Jiménez-Lupión D, Rubio-Oltra J, Chirosa-Ríos I, Chirosa-Ríos LJ, Jerez-Mayorga D (2026). Push-Pull Ratio and Ankle Dorsiflexion Strength in Nurse Home Residents: Novel Insights Into Fall Prevention Strategies.. Physiotherapy Research International. doi:10.1002/pri.70132 PMID 41312591
  8. Kjeldsen SS, Næss-Schmidt ET, Hansen GM, Nielsen JF, Stubbs PW (2019). Neuromuscular effects of dorsiflexor training with and without blood flow restriction.. Heliyon. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02341 PMID 31467996
  9. Betts JG, Young KA, Wise JA, Johnson E, Poe B, Kruse DH, Korol O, Johnson JE, Womble M, DeSaix P (2022). Anatomy and Physiology 2e. OpenStax. Link
  10. Juneja P, Hubbard JB (2023). Anatomy, Bony Pelvis and Lower Limb: Tibialis Anterior Muscles.. StatPearls. PMID 30020676
  11. Maganaris CN, Paul JP (1999). In vivo human tendon mechanical properties.. The Journal of physiology. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7793.1999.00307.x PMID 10562354
  12. Maganaris CN (2000). In vivo measurement-based estimations of the moment arm in the human tibialis anterior muscle-tendon unit.. Journal of biomechanics. doi:10.1016/s0021-9290(99)00188-8 PMID 10673122
  13. Maganaris CN, Paul JP (2000). Load-elongation characteristics of in vivo human tendon and aponeurosis.. The Journal of experimental biology. doi:10.1242/jeb.203.4.751 PMID 10648216
  14. Maganaris CN, Baltzopoulos V, Sargeant AJ (1999). Changes in the tibialis anterior tendon moment arm from rest to maximum isometric dorsiflexion: in vivo observations in man.. Clinical biomechanics (Bristol, Avon). doi:10.1016/s0268-0033(99)00018-2 PMID 10521650
  15. Hinks A, Davidson B, Akagi R, Power GA (2021). Influence of isometric training at short and long muscle-tendon unit lengths on the history dependence of force.. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. doi:10.1111/sms.13842 PMID 33038040
  16. Akagi R, Hinks A, Power GA (2020). Differential changes in muscle architecture and neuromuscular fatigability induced by isometric resistance training at short and long muscle-tendon unit lengths.. Journal of Applied Physiology. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00280.2020 PMID 32552430
  17. Van Cutsem M, Duchateau J, Hainaut K (1998). Changes in single motor unit behaviour contribute to the increase in contraction speed after dynamic training in humans.. The Journal of Physiology. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7793.1998.295by.x PMID 9782179
  18. Abazović E, Kovačević E, Nakić J, Peharec S, Paravlic AH (2023). The effectiveness of unilateral isokinetic resistance training on cross-education is independent of contraction velocity: a case of female dorsiflexors and plantar flexors.. International Journal of Rehabilitation Research. doi:10.1097/MRR.0000000000000580 PMID 37068009
  19. Casolo A, Del Vecchio S, Goodlich BI, Schrader B, Nuccio S, Lecce E, Bazzucchi I, Angius L, Felici F, Schrader J, Farina D, Del Vecchio A (2026). Ageing does not impair motor neuron adaptations: comparable motor unit responses to strength training in young and older adults.. The Journal of Physiology. doi:10.1113/JP290541 PMID 41823343
  20. Carzoli JP, Koger K, Amato A, Enoka RM (2022). Tempo-controlled resistance training of the hip abductors and ankle dorsiflexors with light loads does not improve postural sway in older adults.. Experimental Brain Research. doi:10.1007/s00221-022-06477-6 PMID 36227344
  21. Liang SG, Chow JCM, Leung NM, Mo YN, Ng TMH, Woo CLC, Lam FMH (2025). The Effects of Ankle and Foot Exercises on Ankle Strength, Balance, and Falls in Older People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.. Physical Therapy. doi:10.1093/ptj/pzae157 PMID 39657220
  22. Power GA, Dalton BH, Rice CL, Vandervoort AA (2010). Delayed recovery of velocity-dependent power loss following eccentric actions of the ankle dorsiflexors.. Journal of Applied Physiology. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.01254.2009 PMID 20576845
  23. Bruce CD, Ruggiero L, Dix GU, Cotton PD, McNeil CJ (2021). Females and males do not differ for fatigability, muscle damage and magnitude of the repeated bout effect following maximal eccentric contractions.. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. doi:10.1139/apnm-2020-0516 PMID 32937087
  24. Currier BS, D'Souza AC, Singh MAF, Lowisz CV, Rawson ES, Schoenfeld BJ, Smith-Ryan AE, et al (2026). American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand. Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults: An Overview of Reviews.. Medicine and science in sports and exercise. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000003897 PMID 41843416
  25. Tallent J, Goodall S, Gibbon KC, Hortobágyi T, Howatson G (2017). Enhanced Corticospinal Excitability and Volitional Drive in Response to Shortening and Lengthening Strength Training and Changes Following Detraining.. Frontiers in Physiology. doi:10.3389/fphys.2017.00057 PMID 28223941
  26. Griffin L, Cafarelli E (2007). Transcranial magnetic stimulation during resistance training of the tibialis anterior muscle.. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology. doi:10.1016/j.jelekin.2006.05.001 PMID 16891123
  27. Connelly DM, Vandervoort AA (2000). Effects of isokinetic strength training on concentric and eccentric torque development in the ankle dorsiflexors of older adults.. The Journals of Gerontology. Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences. doi:10.1093/gerona/55.10.b465 PMID 11034219
  28. Geertsen SS, Lundbye-Jensen J, Nielsen JB (2008). Increased central facilitation of antagonist reciprocal inhibition at the onset of dorsiflexion following explosive strength training.. Journal of Applied Physiology. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.01155.2007 PMID 18583382
  29. Porter MM, Vandervoort AA (1997). Standing strength training of the ankle plantar and dorsiflexors in older women, using concentric and eccentric contractions.. European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology. doi:10.1007/s004210050213 PMID 9243171
  30. Bohm S, Mersmann F, Arampatzis A (2015). Human tendon adaptation in response to mechanical loading: a systematic review and meta-analysis of exercise intervention studies on healthy adults.. Sports Medicine - Open. doi:10.1186/s40798-015-0009-9 PMID 27747846
  31. Gentil P, Souza D, Santana M, Alves RR, Campos MH, Pinto R, Bottaro M (2020). Multi- and Single-Joint Resistance Exercises Promote Similar Plantar Flexor Activation in Resistance Trained Men.. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. doi:10.3390/ijerph17249487 PMID 33352879

Every source the library cites

Changes

  • Added a Progressive overload section.
  • Tidy pass: minor review findings fixed, glosses aligned with the reviewed glossary.
  • First published.