Mobility, Stability & Flexibility

Stability and mobility go hand in hand and are both necessary for optimal human movement. Without stability your mobility will lack and without mobility your stability will not reach its full potential.

When talking about mobility we are looking at the active range of motion you have in your joints that allows you to move freely and easily. This measurement takes into consideration muscular and soft tissue tightness, the limits of the joint capsule as well as the level of motor control exhibited.

Maintaining good mobility can have plenty of benefits including:

• Decreased risk of injury

• Improved posture

• Improved movement mechanics and quality of movement

Mobility is often confused with flexibility – which is the PASSIVE range of motion that a muscle has, however the mobility range that a joint has will influence your measure of flexibility. Meaning that if you lack mobility at a certain joint it will impact the flexibility of the surrounding muscles. For example, a lack of mobility at your knee will impact both your quadricep and hamstring flexibility. Therefore, showing that mobility work more so than hours of static stretching can go wonders towards developing and increasing your flexibility.

Having mobile joints is great but it is only one side of the coin, we also need a degree of stability in order to move optimally and efficiently.

Joint stability can be defined as the ability to control the movement of the joint within its correct range of motion. This stability comes from both the soft tissue (ligaments, tendons) and muscle that are surrounding the joint offering support.

If we had an extremely mobile ankle joint but no stability we would be at an increased risk of ankle sprain or worse injuries. Conversely, if we had an extremely stable ankle joint with no mobility we wouldn’t be moving our bodies optimally resulting in maladaptive movement patterns therefore increasing risk of injury in other areas of the body.

MOBILITY + STABILITY + FLEXIBILITY = OPTIMAL MOVEMENT = HAPPY HUMANS

Keep an eye out for our weekly Exercises Series that will cover a range of mobility and stability exercises that are easy to add into your daily routine to help keep you moving at your best (dancers and non-dancers alike)!