Dr. Mitch Broser
What is mobility and how do we improve it?
For the last several years, one of the coolest kids on the fitness industry block has been “mobility”. Yet, whenever you ask someone what mobility IS, or what mobility training LOOKS LIKE, the story never lines up. Now, some people may throw around the term “mobility” like slang, but I’m going to help clear up what mobility really is, what it means to be mobile, and how to improve your mobility.
As defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Mobility is “the quality or state of being mobile or moveable; ability or capacity to move”. As humans, we move by way of our joints – the movement of one bone relative to another bone at their articulation. We got meat (muscle, connective tissue) and nerves (central and peripheral nervous system) which contribute to produce movement at a joint. The nervous system is what CREATES movement. Tissue provides the potential to be moved. They function synonymously. So mobility is dependent on how well a joint can function. There must be a large amount of freedom (relative to the joint anatomy) of one bone to move relative to the other. Now, I mentioned earlier that the meat (from now on, let’s call it all “tissue”) and the nerves (the electrical input) influence the “mobility of a joint”. However, I must remind you that there are some congenital joint anatomical variations (such as FAI and hip dysplasia) and pathologies (such as labral tears, inflammatory arthritides, and degenerative joint changes) that will significantly influence mobility, and the prognosis to improve it. If these are present, professional/medical intervention is warranted. For the sake of this discussion, I will be referring to working with a normal healthy joint.
Mobility needs high quality ‘meat’.
In order to be mobile, you need high-quality tissues. High-quality tissue allows for it to be more safely stretched and lengthened as you move into further ranges of motion. Tissue quality is related to the
physical properties of it. Good tissue organization allows for efficient dissipation of force across it as it is brought into greater length/stretch. Think of a duck – it’s feathers are water-repellent, neatly and tightly organized. If you pour water on a duck, the water droplets will easily roll along its body and off of it’s back. You can think of the water being “force” as it easily travels across a large surface area with minimal resistance. Now, imagine the same duck got in a tussle and got some feathers ruffled up. If you pour water on the duck now, the water no longer travels easily across its back. When you have areas or patches of poor-quality tissue (the ruffled feathers), force accumulates in certain areas, increasing the likelihood of tissue overload and subsequent tissue failure (ie injury). This limits the capacity for the tissue to be lengthened/stretched or moved.
You also need a well-oiled nervous system. The nervous system provides electrical impulses to the tissues (muscular tissue) to coordinate the production of movement. It is very complex and the
interactions between tissues and the nervous system are not completely predictable. More importantly, we know that the functioning of the nervous system is completely dependent on experience, or practice.
The nervous system is plastic and adapts to the load – That is largely why when you strength train
properly, you get stronger. In order to be “mobile”, you must be able to move yourself – you must practice moving at your end ranges of motion! The more you experience and practice at your end-ranges, the better you can function there, and the better you can move there. By improving the quality and quantity of our tissues (and by quantity, I mean more length that the tissue can be put in) and practicing moving actively at our outer limits of motion is what improves mobility.
So what does mobility training look like? Based on what we’ve discussed so far, we can rule out passive interventions – foam rolling, lacrosse ball rolling, passive tissue work (ie massage), passive stretching,
bands, and I’m sure much more. These passive strategies won’t work because “mobility” is your ability to move yourself – it’s your useable range of motion!
We know active mobility is controlled by the nervous system, and the nervous system only improves when you practice using it. Therefore, your “mobility sessions” must include an active component.
‘you need to practice actively moving at your outer limits; and you need to practice often.’
We also know that the nervous system improves with repetitions or practice. It is based on a law of specificity, which explains that the adaptation is specific to the repeated demand. And just like any other type of training, real improvements don’t come after day 1. It takes weeks and months to make long-term changes to tissue and the nervous system. So if you want to improve your mobility, you need to practice actively moving at your outer limits; and you need to practice often.
“The nervous system is what creates movement. Tissue provides the potential to be moved. They function synonymously.”