19 Research has shown that a recovery of the accessory movements of the talocrural joint improves both the articular congruence and its rotational centre, leading to improvements in the lost dorsiflexion ROM through a reduction in the mechanical attrition of the joint sur- faces. This restoration is accomplished through an ac-cessory mobilisation technique where the talus is glid-ed in an anteroposterior direction within the mortise. Graded mobilisations that focus on the end of the avail-able arthrokinematic range are intended to elongate connective tissue that may be abnormally restraining motion. Connective tissue provides resistance to the forces acting on joints, and act in conjunction with the fibrocartilaginous structures and articular shape and orientation of the joint in order to establish the oseto-kinematic and arthrokinematic ROM. These higher grade mobilisations (III and IV) affect the length of the connective tissue through a process of plastic deforma-tion, which creates an internal microfailure mechanism at the cellular level that results in an increase in the rest-ing length of the connective tissue. This corresponds to a breaking of the cross-links of the periarticular tissue, and a disconnection of some of the individual collagen