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| Photo: alvarez / Getty Images |
Mobility is so hot right now—and for good reason. With everybody
hitting up HIIT classes, lifting heavy, and running races, there's a lot
of hard work going on. Couple that go-getter gym culture with nine-hour desk-job bodies and tech neck, and there's bound to be a tornado of injuries.
The antidote to all that sub-par movement? Mobility work. But what is mobility, really?
[post_ads]"It's
the ability for the body to effortlessly access all range of motion
(ROM, or full movement potential) without pain or compensation," says
physical therapist Ryan Ardoin, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., cofounder of SculptU,
a medical fitness training facility in Houston. It's something we all
had as kids: "Watching a toddler perform everyday activities is the
pinnacle of pure movement," says Ardoin. But you slowly acquire
compensations and faulty movement patterns throughout your life that
keep you from squatting, crawling, and stretching as easily as when you
were 4 years old.
While
some joints (such as your lumbar spine/lower back) are meant to be
stable, other joints in the body (such as your hips and shoulders) are
meant to be more mobile, according to the American Council on Exercise.
A lack of adequate mobility in those joints (or too much, for that
matter) creates imbalances that'll likely result in compensated
movements (using the wrong muscles to get things done) and increased
risk for injury. Incorporating mobility work is all about getting that
toddler-style movement and full ROM back.
Now that you know the
basics, it's time to get some things straight. Here, experts dish on
everything you think you know—and why you're probably wrong.
Myth: Stretching and foam rolling will address all of my mobility problems.
Truth:
Stretching and soft tissue work (like foam rolling and massage) may
seem like the bread and butter of mobility, but there's more to know.
"If you have a true mechanical mobility problem, soft tissue work and
different stretching techniques are definitely great options," says
Ardoin. But you might experience tightness or a loss of motion that
doesn't have anything to do with tissue restrictions like tight muscles
or joint stiffness.
"In these particular people, they actually
have the mobility needed, but their brain doesn't know how to access
it," says Ardoin. This sort of muscle-brain disconnect could be because
of current pain, previous injuries, or, "sometimes people just forget
how to move," he says.
In this case, your muscles are
working against each other instead of synergistically—and it's not
something stretching or foam rolling will fix. The good news is that
there's not actually anything physically wrong. The bad news: This is
tough to diagnose on your own. "If you have a loss of motion while you
perform the motion yourself but have full ROM when performed passively,
then it's safe to assume that you have the ROM available but your brain
doesn't know how to access it," says Ardoin.
For
example, let's say you have a "tight" shoulder. Make a large, slow
circle with your right arm. Then totally relax your arm while someone
else rotates your arm in a circle for you. Did it go farther while you
let the motion happen passively? Ding, ding! Could be a brain problem,
not a muscle problem. Think this might be you? Seeing a trainer or
physical therapist to confirm it (and help you work on the issue) can't
hurt.
Myth: You can get rid of knots or scar tissue with foam rolling or massage.
Truth:
"You probably hear of 'breaking up fascia' and 'breaking up scar
tissue,' but the reality is that it literally takes 200 tons to deform
scar tissue or cause mechanic changes to the fascia," says Los
Angeles–based physical therapist Jen Esquer, D.P.T., creator of the Mobility Method program.
So whenever you've been told that someone is "massaging out a knot" in
your back, or that foam rolling is "realigning your muscle fibers," it's
a load of B.S. (You've probably also heard that foam rolling can get rid of cellulite.)
"Think:
If you bump into something super hard, yeah, you might bruise, but
you're not actually breaking something in your body or tearing tissue,"
says Esquer. "So why would we think that lying or rolling around on a
foam roller for a while would have that extreme effect?"
You might
be thinking, "But it totally helps!" You're not wrong—it does. It just
helps for a different reason: "Really, foam rolling and massage work by
bombarding the brain with safe, feel-good information, convincing the
muscle to relax and let go," says Ardoin. That calming of the nervous
system results in the release of tension and tightness that you feel.
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And
since it's all about relaxation, you should never be trying to create
pain in the body, says Esquer: "You don't want to fire anything back up
and make it potentially worse. It always comes back to relaxation."
(Next up: science-backed reasons you should get a sports massage.)
Myth: You can stretch and/or foam roll your iliotibial (IT) band.
Truth:
First things first: your IT band is a thick ligament that stretches
from your pelvis and runs along the very outside of your thigh and knee
all the way down to your shin. (You may have heard runners complaining about IT band issues.)
"Stretching
and rolling the IT band isn't helpful, because it's a thick band of
fascia and can't be broken up or elongated," says Ardoin. (See earlier
point about it taking 200 tons of force to mechanically affect tissue.) And, really, you shouldn't want to break it up, says Esquer.
However, if you're rolling near your IT band (to release tight quads, for example), that's different, says Esquer. "Your IT band can
become adhered to the adjacent quad and hamstring muscles," says
Ardoin. "Rolling between the IT band and these muscles can help the
tissues slide and glide more easily." (Here's more on why you shouldn't foam roll your IT band.)
Myth: You only need to do mobility work if you're an athlete or if something hurts.
Truth:
"Whether you're pro athlete, weekend warrior, or parent being active
with their kids, the mobility requirement for fundamental movements
(running, squatting, etc.) stays the same," says Ardoin. "We always need
adequate mobility in the same key areas, such as the ankles, hips,
thoracic spine (upper back), shoulders." He says everyone should be able
to meet the following mobility baselines:
- Touch your chin to your chest without opening your mouth.
- Look up toward the ceiling with your face becoming parallel to the floor.
- Rotate your head to each side until your chin reaches mid collarbone.
- Touch your toes with straight legs.
- Lower into a deep squat without your heels coming up or toes rotating out.
"If
you don't have access to the necessary mobility, your body will find a
way to get it by compensating elsewhere, which could lead to injuries
down the road," he says.
But the injuries might be in unexpected
places: Your first thought might be to deal with the area that
hurts—but, often, that's not the true source of the problem. "Often
times the issue causing lower-back pain isn't the lower back, but an
issue with hip mobility," says Esquer. An elbow issue might actually be
due to a lack of wrist mobility, and upper-back pain might be due to
tightness in the front of the chest and shoulders.
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"A lot of times
we don't notice movement restrictions until we're in pain," says
Esquer. Maintaining your natural mobility day in and day out (kind of
like brushing your teeth to prevent cavities) will help prevent surprise
injuries from popping up. (Having a pro assess your personal mobility
needs is best—but, in the meantime, you can try this mobility workout to help stay injury-free.)
