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Our body's job is to give us the ability to perform and do the things our brain desires.
It is made of parts that all need to work together. These parts are controlled by the brain but influenced by the health of the parts themselves.
For example, say you drop your pencil off the desk. You get off your chair and bend over, pick it up and sit back down almost automatically. But what happens if you couldn't bend your knees? Or if you have inflammation in a bursa in your hip that won't let you stand on one leg to bend down?
How does your body keep up with our brain?
Our body should function as a finely choreographed dance between the stability and mobility of our muscles and joints. When this dance becomes unbalanced there is a cost to your overall function or movement. The inability to stabilize will take away your ability to move!
What is mobility?
I define mobility as the ability to move from point A to point B in the most effective and efficient manner. Mobility is NOT flexibility of muscles, but more the ability of your joints to move through full ranges of motion with ease.
What is stability?
Stability is your body's ability to stabilize you through movement. You should be able to isolate a joint in your body and get it to move through its range of motion without using other parts of your body to accomplish the task.
With the correct body stability, movement becomes more efficient as you are only using the muscles you NEED to do a job, not recruiting every other muscle in the body to support you.
How do they effect one another?
These two components of your system are directly related to one another. If you lose mobility, you will compromise stability somewhere else (think tight hips and low back pain). If you lose stability, your body will tighten up in other areas to try to hold you upright with other muscles instead (think weak shoulder muscles and tight necks).
When these two systems are not in balance, you lose the ability to move correctly. This increases tension in muscles and compression in your joints. If you do not specifically address these imbalances it can lead to injury depending on the demands you place on your body!
If you are struggling with your mobility and stability, an Athletic Therapist can help!
