What is Mobility?
The ability to display full range of motion around a joint with control.
The ability to display full range of motion around a joint with control.
Benefits of Mobility
- Freedom of Movement– Having functional joints will let you assume the necessary positions and overall allow you to participate in doing everyday physical activities, as opposed to being uncomfortable. It comes down to having a better quality of life.
- Injury Prevention – less likely to suffer from an acute or chronic injury usually caused by operating from a poor position for a prolonged time period. Ex. Tearing your ACL could’ve been prevented if your hips, knees, and ankles moved properly.
- Increase Exercise Performance- better posture equals better force potential. Therefore, if you can deliver more force you are going to be faster and stronger during your performance.
How Can You Improve Mobility?
- Test Out Your Range of Motion– Test your range of motion before and after an exercise to see if that specific exercise is working for you
- Discomfort Vs Pain – Sometimes when you roll out a specific muscle group (ex. quadriceps, lats) you might experience discomfort, but don’t let that stop you from releasing tension from the muscles. Discomfort is do-able, pain is most likely an injury.
- Incorporate Mobility Exercise in Daily Routine– use every opportunity you can to put your mobility into use. Put aside 10 minutes a day to focus on one or two areas of your body.
Mobility Tips and Tricks
Self-massage/myofascial release tools. Essentially, used to free up areas of tension. Find a tight spot, apply pressure until it releases. Also resistance Bands are used to apply traction to the joint and add a little resistance. Below are examples of different pieces of equipment to help with your mobility.
- Various Balls(tennis, lacrosse, kids bouncy balls)
- Foam Rollers
- Resistance Bands
- Theracane
Parts of the Body that Benefit from Mobility
- Neck Mobility
- Shoulder Mobility
- Thoracic Mobility
- Hands, Elbow, Wrist Mobility
- Hip Mobility
- Knee Mobility
- Foot and Ankle Mobility
Mobility should be viewed as as a way of life, and not something you do every now and again. Create a routine for yourself. Maybe you do some exercise in the morning once you wake up or you do some exercises before you go to bed. Once you become more comfortable, you will learn more about your body and you’ll start to experience the benefits of mobility training. As a result of this you can add in mini movement breaks, and longer mobility sessions to your everyday schedule.
Be on the look out for our mobility series starting Thursday October 8th!
-Olivia Callan
Health Fitness Specialist