What exactly is mobility and why should athletes engage in practising it? Mobility is stretching and flexibility, right? Not quite, but they do overlap. Mobility refers to movement in a full range-of-motion (ROM), including soft tissue, connective tissue and joint capsules. Good mobility means your joint moves in the way it is designed to with no restriction.
Genetics, inactivity, injury and poor motor function all lead to reduced mobility. Over time our joints can deteriorate and the connective tissue is reduced causing the joint to change its movement pattern. Consistent reduced or inadequate ROM also leads to a reduction in mobility. If you stop moving within a plane, your body assumes it no longer needs to do it.
The good news is mobility can be improved. There are limits, depending on the reasons you have become less mobile, and for most people who have never engaged in mobility training it can be very uncomfortable. However, the improvement in immobility will reduce injury, reduce body tension and stress and increase your power output and strength. So, it is well worth the effort.
There are a number of different approaches to improving mobility, including myofascial release, active release therapy, fascial stretch therapy and yoga, to name a few. Rollers, lacrosse balls, voodoo bands and canes have all become commonplace in most athletic clubs and performance centres. All of these approaches have strengths in improving your range of motion, but it ultimately will depend on how much time and/or money you invest.
A lot of medical professionals are using mobility techniques to improve health, but it can be costly. If you are suffering from a debilitating condition reducing your ROM, you should see a professional, but you can absolutely improve your ROM on your own. Most of the equipment noted here is relatively inexpensive and it can be as easy as a tennis ball or baseball.
You can use almost any round surface to help release soft tissue and remodel scar tissue. Self-massage is a common term used to describe techniques that help get the knots out of soft tissue. One of the largest factors in really helping release the tension and stretching the muscle fibre is moving the muscle tissue across the surface of the ball or roller rather than moving the ball or roller across the tissue.
Try the following techniques for comparison. Do only one leg and take note of the difference between your quads when you have completed these three techniques. You should notice a huge difference in how intense each of these steps are from each other and you will definitely notice the difference in how the quad you rolled feels.
- Lay face down with a roller (a rolling pin in a tea towel works great) on your quad (single not both) just above the knee and move your body toward your feet allowing the roller to roll up your quad to your hip crease. Repeat five to 10 times.
- Same as above, but slow down. Really, really, slow. Move one inch at a time, allowing the muscle to adapt to the roller before moving up the next inch. Repeat a few times.
- Same as above, but now in each one-inch spot, bend your knee and pull the muscle fibre across the roller. Once your knee is bent, floss the muscle fibre from side to side by allowing the foot to fall to the right and then the left like a windshield wiper. Make sure you hit the inside and outside of your quad at each point. You may only need to do this once from above the knee to the hip crease.
You can run through a series of mobility exercises specific to your workout, you can approach a whole-body approach and do a mobility class, or you can work on a target area that really needs attention. The amount of time you spend should depend on your need, but there are two general rules when you are doing mobility:
- Don’t go beyond an eight on a scale of one to 10 in intensity. It should never be painful although it is almost always uncomfortable.
- Always breathe. Never hold your breath when you are rolling or stretching. If you find yourself making that “huh” sound (you will know what that means when it happens) back off on the intensity and let your body adjust to being uncomfortable before continuing. Sounds awesome right?
The more tension in your muscle fibre and the more restricted your mobility is, the more discomforting it will be. Mobility may be particularly difficult the day after intense exercise or following injury recovery. Expect one side of your body to feel different than the other and various muscle groups to react differently. Practice it regularly. You should do some mobility before and after each exercise session.
Sherry Dean is a career firefighter/engineer with Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency Service. She has more than 20 years of experience in fitness and training. Contact Sherry at deansherry@bellaliant.net.
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