Written by: Jordan Huberty of AdvantageHealth
First, human movement is very complex. Have you ever wondered why when you sit for prolonged periods or even neglect basic patterns, your daily movement becomes restricted and harder to perform? Well, some muscles create movement, others stabilize movement and some even hinder movement. Our bodies must MOVE and flow; united as one for optimal results. You need to move well before you can move more. Let us look at a couple terms based on body functions.
Mobility: the ability of a joint to move freely in unrestricted manner through full range-of-motion.
Stability: the ability of a joint to maintain position while motion takes place somewhere else. Ability to control movement and motion.
Motor control: the ability to balance and move through space and range-of-motion.
These three basic concepts ultimately stack upon one another. Stable joints on top of mobile joints while motor control encompasses all. Therefore, if we become immobile, those joints will give up stability and then we will compromise our movement patterns, which can and will lead to injuries.
Movement in the body is synonymous with a well-tuned vehicle; everything needs to work as one, in a coordinated fashion. Pain in our body is equivalent to the check engine light coming on to warn us of a potential problem. Do you just let the vehicle sit hoping with time it will go away? No. In the end, you need to fix the issue. The same thing needs to take place with the body. By coordinating numerous individual musculature to hold joint position in the most efficient manner possible. Depending on the demand, each individual plays various roles. Since all major body and limb movements’ initiate with the trunk, preceded by trunk stabilization and caused by internal forces, they are incapable of producing changes in the motion of the body’s center of mass. Therefore, if you blow a sensor on your vehicle, the whole system is no longer synonymous for optimal performance.
By understanding the importance of movement, and by a joint-by-joint approach, will allow for the best results for pain management, injury prevention, maximizing movement, and to have a better quality of life. Ultimately, look at the big picture and ask yourself how you want to move down the road.
Sources:
Cook, Gray. “Expanding on the Joint-by-Joint Approach.”
Starrett, Kelly. Becoming a Supple Leopard. 2013.
Since 2001, Minnesota-based AdvantageHealth has been delivering award-winning employee wellbeing programs and fitness center design & management throughout the U.S.
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