Moving and staying active is extremely important when it comes to keeping your body healthy and pain free.  Without a regular movement practice, muscles and joints become stiff, the muscles become weak, and life becomes more difficult. In regards to moving well and often, both mobility and stability are of equal importance.

Mobility is the ability to move your body through full ranges of motion.  As affects of aging and the results of our sedentary lifestyle, we tend to lose mobility in a key areas. These include the hips, t-spine, and ankles. These three regions are intersections where good mobility is needed for activities related to life and performance. If you lack mobility, your movement quality tends to decline. When you move poorly, you predispose your joints to excessive wear and tear. Improving mobility can mitigate a lot of these effects.

Stability is the ability to maintain control and strength through a full range of motion. Stability is equally as important as mobility. If you have good mobility but cannot control your movements through full ranges of motion, you may put a lot of stress on your joints.   Common areas where we have lack control and strength include the hips, abdominals, and shoulders. Lack of control and strength in these regions negatively affect movement quality and place excessive strain on various regions of the body.

Often, mobility and stability are tied together. A muscle can become stiff in the presence of instability. Your body might find stability through stiffness. A muscle can also be stiff because it is compensating for weakness in another region. For example, your stiff quads and hip flexors may feel that way due to weakness in your posterior chain (glutes and hammies). The combination of poor mobility and stability can contribute poor movement patterns, wear and tear, and pain at different regions of the body.

Fortunately, finding a good movement provider can help mitigate these affects and get you back on track to feeling great, moving well, and unlocking your potential. The providers at Movement Solutions have advanced training to determine the regions where you need more mobility and/or stability. We would be glad to help you get back to a active lifestyle. Let us know how we can help.