The Mobility vs. Stability trail...
Michael Boyle has an article about a conversation he had with Gray Cook about the "stacking" of mobility and stability within the body. I do recommend you check out www.michaelboyle.biz and see what Boyle has to say about things - great coach with interesting and great ideas. His article is very good and I just want to present this here as means of sparking thought.
And Gray and I have spent a great deal of time discussing this ourselves.
Back to our originally scheduled program.........
Follow the trail:
Foot = stability
Ankle = mobility
Knee = stability
Hip = mobility
Lumbar/Core = stability
T-spine = mobility
Scapulae = stability
Shoulder = mobility
Now what happens if the foot which is supposed to show stability becomes mobile? The ankle has to become a stability joint instead of being mobile and the knee has to then become mobile (not what it was designed for) and so on..........
This is why you must follow the chain above and below an "injury" and find out if the problem is a mobility or stability problem because the opposite is waiting for you above and below where you are having an "issue".
And now you can see why a restricted shoulder can actually be a stability problem at the feet - just follow the trail....
Pretty cool eh?
Great post, Brett.
ReplyDeleteHere's my thought intra-Z-Health:
Every joint needs mobility work, though some more than others at specific times. Too much stability work in the lumbar will lock that area down and present symptoms in the thoracic. Conversely, hypomobile t-spine will likely lead to hypermobile lumbar spine.
The foot is more often than not TOO stable and needs mobility. Same can be said of the hip, pelvis, and scapula. Same thing with the wrists and hands.
The more people are aware of the need for mobility,the better. Keep on preachin'!
Geoff,
ReplyDeleteIt is always a balance - a pronation at the foot (a loss of stability) causes the ankle (normally a mobility area) to lock up and lose it's mobility - and so on - so mobility is defined as a proper level of mobility - not moving into hyper range and not working stability to the point of locking down.
Mobility is a wonderful thing - the "stacking" of the two and how they change depending on what is happening at the joint above and below.
I will keep preaching - you do the same.
way cool brett,really interesting way of looking at it too.easy to remember,great post/
ReplyDeleteThanks guys - looks like from the forum that Z people - marty something - had an issue with this stacking - be interested to see what it was.
ReplyDeleteBut changes to a link in the chain - changes the chain.