What is Mobility?
Mobility is more than being flexible.
Mobility is DYNAMIC motion.
Flexibility is PASSIVE motion.
Every joint in your body has a certain amount of range of motion (ROM). Range of motion can be measured either passively or actively.
Raise your arm overhead. This is your ACTIVE ROM. Can you reach all the way up?
If someone helped you raise your arm up a bit further, this would be the amount of PASSIVE ROM you have. Your active and passive motion could be the same, but often we see people have more passive ROM than active. Meaning you could be flexible, but not necessarily have great mobility.
An example of passive hamstring stretching. This person is using their hands to assist to get more range of motion.
Another example of passive hamstring stretching.
Mobility is also having CONTROL over your range of motion. For example, if you can squat full depth but you are crashing to the bottom and your knees are diving in, you are not controlling the motion.
This athlete is demonstrating good mobility. They have full range of motion and are controlling it by keeping a good back and knee position.
In CrossFit, we talk a lot about mobility. I often see athletes focus more on static stretching with bands and rolling out tissues with a foam roller or lacrosse ball, instead of doing active mobility exercises and working on strength and stability that will help them control their range of motion.
So how do you know if you need to work on flexibility/stretching or strength/stability? First, we need decide what end of the spectrum you are closest to. Are you HYPER or HYPO mobile or somewhere in between?
Hypermobility = having more than “normal” range of motion in a joint or joints; laxity
Hypomobility = having less than “normal” range of motion in a joint or joints; stiffness
My body has felt better since I started lifting weights in CrossFit.
I am more on the HYPERmobility side of things. I have a lot of flexibility and looseness in my joints. It’s hard for me to feel a stretch and also difficult for me to feel tension in my muscles when lifting weights because I have so much range of motion. Even though I can feel tight and stiff, my body actually feels worse after stretching and doing yoga. My body feels the best when I am actively moving and doing strength and stability exercises. Watch the video below for an example of a strength exercise that can also be used to improve hamstring mobility.
I commonly see clients that are like me, hypermobile. They feel tight and stiff and have been stretching/foam rolling non-stop but without any long term results. They are usually lacking strength and stability so stretching and rolling out are not actually helping fix the underlying problem.
Now, if some is more HYPOmobile, then stretching and soft tissue work, like foam rolling, may give better results. Here’s some example to help you figure out what you need to focus on:
If your PASSIVE ROM = ACTIVE ROM,
you would most likely benefit from soft tissue work, foam rolling or stretching to improve your range of motion.
If your PASSIVE ROM > ACTIVE ROM,
you probably need more strength and motor control/stability especially near your end range of motion. You have the available motion (passively) but you have trouble controlling it.
If your PASSIVE ROM < ACTIVE ROM,
you may have some guarding of your joints and muscles to protect your motion due to pain or fear when someone tries to help you move.
Take home message: Mobility is more than stretching and foam rolling! More often than not, we need strength and stability of our joints, especially at end-range, to improve mobility. Building strength and stability will not only increase active ROM but also improve your mobility long term.
