Is Your Problem Mobility or Flexibility?
Have you ever watched a baby roll around and grab their feet and put their toes in their mouth.
Their flexibility is incredible. I would love to have flexibility like that, and no, not to put my toes in my mouth :)
Flexibility VS Mobility.
Flexibility is the passive range of motion through a joint. For example if you were to bend your wrist back with the opposite hand, forcing it as far as it can go.
Mobility on the other hand is our ability to move actively with control through different ranges of motion.
Mobility is more important as it stabilizes your movement so you don’t injure a joint structure.
When you get adjusted by your chiropractor the initial goal in most cases is to get the stuck joints moving properly again. Once you have slightly better motion the next step should be learning to engage the muscles that support that joint. This is done through mobility exercises specific to that area. A good example for the low back can be found here “3 simple low back exercises”.
The problem with mobility is that we lose it over time due to lack of movement through specific ranges. For example, our constant day to day activities consisting of constant sitting at work, in the car and at home will tighten your hip flexors, hamstrings and low back.
The bottom line is good mobility is yours to lose since you can see when observing a baby, we were all born with it.
The cool thing is that if you do mobility movements regularly you can see amazing changes. First how quickly the mobility comes back as well as how good you feel once you continue improve.
This is why so many people seek out yoga or pilates as it requires active muscle control through different ranges of motion.
Squatting deep and creating movement while squatting is one of the best ways to help combat the chronic tightness from sitting.
Doing this regularly will help to create good movement patterns and increase mobility.
I will post a video of a morning mobility routine that you can do to add movement to your mornings.