Functional Mobility Training

Two commonly used terms in sports and therapy settings are flexibility and mobility. Are they synonyms or do they have a different meaning? In its simple form, mobility represents a freedom of movement around a particular joint or a group of joints. Flexibility as the term represents an intrinsic property of extensibility of soft tissues (i.e. muscles, fascia, peripheral nerves, tendons, skin…). In other words, flexibility can limit joint range of motion, but it is not by definition joint(s) range of motion. From that perspective, a more appropriate definition of flexibility can be found in Duane Knudson’s book “Fundamentals of Biomechanics” – it is the intrinsic property of body tissues, which determines the range of motion achievable without injury at a joint or group of joints. Aside from tissue extensibility, other factors that can limit joint range of motion include: muscle tone and neural tightness, arthrokinematics (movement of the bone surfaces within the joint) and joint capsule, and, in cases of active movement, strength of agonists and postural stabilization. Hence, mobility as the term encompasses ALL potential limiting factor of joint(s) range of motion, the tissue flexibility being only ONE of them. It is of particular importance for coaches and therapists to:

(1) understand factors that can limit mobility of joints;

(2) have practical skills to determine which factor is responsible for limited joint range of motion;

(3) have practical skills (i.e. a set of ‘tools’) that allow them to efficiently improve client’s joint and spine mobility.

 

 

At birth, healthy babies have excellent mobility of all joints. This allows them to develop appropriate postural stabilization and motor control necessary for functional movement and locomotion. However, during life, due to a number of reasons, humans lose mobility in their joints and spine. Notably, limitations in mobility of a particular joint requires a modification of the movement pattern in a way that other (usually neighbouring) joints need to move to a greater extent. Given that humans have more joints than they actually need for most movements (principle of redundancy in degrees of freedom), the brain is able modify the optimal movement pattern to compensate for a limited mobility in a particular joint. If such movement is being loaded or performed frequently, it starts to overload the musculoskeletal system and can result in overuse injury. In addition, such dysfunctional movement pattern is non-economical as it requires excessive energy expenditure. Taken together, it is important to remember that poor mobility of a particular joint or a spinal segment inevitably results in altered (dysfunctional) movement patterns, which can lead to increased incidence of overuse injury and decreased performance.

From the rehabilitation viewpoint, limited joint mobility can be a contributing factor in the occurrence of an acute or overuse injury. Without appropriate correction of this functional limitation, outcomes of the rehab process will not be optimal, and the risk of re-injury will remain elevated.

 

 

In this unique, evidence-based, 2-day course participants will:

(1) gain a deep understanding of factors that can limit mobility of joints and spine;

(2) develop specific practical skills that will allow them to be precise in recognizing the main limiting factor(s) of joint mobility;

(3) learn optimal methods for restoring and maintaining joint and spine mobility, depending on the recognized limiting factor(s).
 

Mobility enhancement methods that will be learned include, but are not limited to, vibration, neural mobilization, various types of stretching, specific myofascial release techniques, breathing methods, and eccentric training. In case that more than one factor is responsible for the observed limitation in mobility, participants will learn the optimal sequence of application of particular mobility restoration methods. 

Finally, mobility drills specific for warm up prior to training or competition will also be introduced.