Stability vs. Mobility
Mobility is a hot topic right now. Everyone is talking hip mobility, shoulder mobility, shit - I recently just emphasized the importance of thoracic mobility a couple of weeks ago!
It’s not that mobility is this new concept that everyone is jumping on board with, but it’s finally getting the recognition it deserves. However, with all the emphasis being placed on mobility, we might be forgetting about stability.
Lets start this off by defining some key words:
Flexibility - passively lengthening tissues
Mobility - actively lengthening tissues
Stability - ability to maintain proper congruency in a joint without compensation
People often confuse or combine flexibility and mobility. The reason mobility is superior is because it requires strength at the end ranges of motion. Flexibility does not.
Stability is how we utilize the structures in our joints. It is how we are able to move without causing injury. Everything in the joint is performing how it should. It is secure - stable. Stability also relies on mobility (as we have previously discussed), because if tissues truly lack a certain range of motion, we cannot utilize them to their fullest capacity.
When being assessed, or maybe assessing yourself for a lack of mobility, it is common to forget about stability. Many stability issues present themselves as a mobility issue. Let me give an example.
Lateral neck flexion (touching your ear to your shoulder) is a common limitation. If you feel restricted in that motion your first thought is “I’m tight. This is a mobility issue.” In reality, it may be a stability issue PRESENTING as a mobility issue. Let’s dig deeper.
Let’s say I’m examining your for neck tightness in lateral flexion and your sitting on the table and perform the movement with a significant lack of range of motion. Next, I might lay you down on your back and have you completely relax while I grab your head and move it PASSIVELY into the same motion - lateral neck flexion. Except now, you have way more range of motion than you did before. What could this mean?
What we have established with your hypothetical neck tightness is that you DO have the mobility to perform this movement. However, you lack the stability for your nervous system (yes, she’s going to pop up in almost every blog. She matters.) to allow the movement.
Your neck may be unstable because of muscle weakness, compensations, maybe a bulged disc, stress, or prior injury in that position. The nervous system will recognize this and put her foot down and say “Oh, were not going to move that far. If we do we could get injured”. She does not allow you to go beyond a certain range of motion because she deems it unsafe.
Listening to the nervous system allows us to work backward to establish quality strength and control of our neck which communicates to the nervous system (the queen) that “hey, we do have the stability needed for this motion and if we do it, we won’t get hurt”. Just like that she lifts her foot off the break and you have gained more range of motion.
Now, there are quick ways to cheat the nervous system to allow more range of motion immediately. However, this probably is a long term issue so what you SHOULD work on is prolonged strengthening of the area.
If you want to examine this in yourself do the following:
1 - Perform seated or standing lateral neck flexion
2 - Lay flat and have someone passively move your neck into the same motion and examine if your range of motion remained the same or increased
3 - Put your hand against the side of your head and press your head against your hand (the hand should resist the motion from happening - an isometric contraction) and hold for 20 seconds. Repeat to the opposite side.
4 - Retest standing/sitting lateral neck flexion and see how much range of motion you have improved.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s IG video to demonstrate and explain this in person.
See you later, movers!
