““Human movement is an amazing orchestra of muscle contractions controlled by the central nervous system to create joint actions to accomplish specific tasks”
I love this quote as it describes the process of movement so beautifully and also gives us an idea of how intricately all the various parts of the system (orchestra) have to come together to create a glorious sound and celebration of auditory joy. And yet it only takes one part of the orchestra to be off and you can hear the glitch in the pitch, the tremble in the treble and the bump in the bass. There is so much emphasis and strength and weakness and its often the parable that most people go to when they experience an issue that can’t be explained by a strain or sprain. But strength and weakness are not the only parts of the equation we need to consider. Mobility and Stability are equally as important when it comes to the cohesion of working parts moving as one and in synchronicity to create beautiful and eloquent movement patterns. Often in addressing these two elements, strength is negated and actually comes after the fact when assessing issues of a subtle and often temperamental nature.
Mobility is described as the range of motion that a singular joint space can move within before soft tissue becomes a restriction or preventative cause in the normal range of motion of a joint. This statement highlights the difference between mobility and flexibility, with flexibility usually relating to the amount of range of motion of tendons and muscles (soft tissue) and mobility relating directly to the joint itself. The difference is subtle and one does influence the other but for the purposes of diagnostics and true understanding, this differentiation is important to get right from the start. It is important to note however that flexibility and mobility are very intertwined in movement. You can be flexible but not mobile within a joint and vica versa.
Likewise stability is often misinterpreted with strength - if a muscle is strong it creates stability. This is not an accurate statement and description of function. Stability relates to control and so often with control of a joint space, it is not strength that is important but the amount of control a muscle can exert on a joint motion. Strength muscles can be often related to the large power muscles of the body, the chest, the quads, the calves. But when you are talking about control, it is often the smaller muscles such as the rotator cuff, the popliteus or the deep muscles of the lower limb that are concerned with exerting control over the joints.
The other major contributor to stability are ligaments, not the muscles themselves or the tendons. These dense structures are all about controlling the amount of movement a joint space should have and issues here can create instability and issues both within the joint and in other joints connected to any one action. The extra element that is important to consider in this factor is also the Central Nervous System and the comprehensive co-ordination of muscular sequences that create desirable and efficient movement. For without efficient movement, joint spaces can also encounter trouble and issues with wear after prolonged exposure to bad movement habits.
The orchestration of all these elements together is what is necessary for good movement practice. You can be flexible without being stable, whilst still having control. You can also be stable and have control but lack flexibility which will only serve you so far in a movement. The consideration of all these three elements together is important before you even begin to think about adding strength and power to the mix. So in this way, working on flexibility with stability and control is the triumverate that is necessary to make the system work well.
So how do we know which is what? This comes down to assessment and a few basic tenets of understanding. In any action there are multiple muscles, tendons and ligaments all working together and this just isn’t across one joint as we tend to move across many joint spaces within one basic movement sequence. An arm bend involves stability at the scapula as well as elbow flexion and supination and even wrist stability (if you are carrying a load). The same can be said for a step, which requires stability in the foot, movement in the ankle, and the knee and stability in the hip. And then you have gross motor movements like a squat which includes all 4 major joints of the body in the spine, the pelvis, the knee and the ankle. Knowing which is a stabiliser and which is a mobiliser in any one action is an important difference to understand when addressing movement.
Mike Boyle, a leading sports performance coach and author from Boston, USA talks about the ability of certain joints being able to perform both roles and thus be prone to both instability as well as immobility. In this way, citing the major joint of the hip in that it is a multi-planar mover, and issues here can create compensations further along the chain - in the knee, the lumbar spine or in the foot. In this way some joints such as the hip and the wrist and the shoulder have a greater and more diverse role than just stability or mobility.
The Human Movement System is a concept that breaks down the major joint spaces of the body and identifies them in primary functional roles and responsibilities. As with anything to do with anatomy, there is a varying degree of crossover with these roles but if we keep it super simple and look at these 10 joint spaces, it begins to give us an understanding of basic movement functions.
When we address the body in this way and then apply movement to the equation we can see complimentary joint partnerships in roles. So that when an issue presents in one space we can look to the corresponding issue in it partner. For example, instability in the Foot will mean the body will search for extra stability in the knee which can create problems here. Likewise a lack of mobility in the ankle results in an increased demand for mobility in the hip as this is the next corresponding mobility joint. Over-stressing these joints because they are compensating for lack of stability or mobility further along the chain can lead to issues of overuse and consequently injury. Working your way through these partnerships you can start to identify where other influences may be coming from and that can assist with targeting your exercise or movement programs to try and create the most efficient movement practices.
Of course there will always be overlapping and a sharing of roles as in the example cited above regarding the knee. Knowing which role the multi-planar joints are undertaking in any given action is the next step in assessment and understanding how to best address movement patterns. In this way mobility and stabilty training should be at the forefront of rehabilitation and rectifying movements that are perhaps not functioning at their best. It also explains why sometimes just ‘stretching an injury out’ may not be the most appropriate or efficient way to get pain free results.
Including mobility and stability work in your fitness regime is vital. Especially where sport is concerned. We can’t necessarily play sport to get fit, we have to be fit to play our sport and that means targeting our training to include all the elements.
