for a player you have to use the up-vector joint. i will do examples for things like that but i don't know yet when i will have enough time.

for ragdolls i would wait for the next newton version. it will have a very cool physics driven character animation system. this won't only be useful for ragdolls but it also will automatically adapt the feet when walking up a slope or stair or rebalance the character when it gets pushed and so on.