Maintain Your 'Mobility Hallway'

Editor's Note: In a group of men I have been connected with for several years, there has been a noticeable increase in those whose gait is less steady and back more bent than when I first knew them. This is evidence of the narrowing "Mobility Hallway" that Cathy Nelson wrote about in a July 2 Well+Good article, with strategies to help reduce narrowing of mobility and reduction of stability. Following is an excerpt, with a link to the full article at the bottom of the page.

With mobility versus stability being a hot topic in the fitness world lately, you may have debated which one you should work on or how to balance the two—but if so, you’re really worrying about the wrong thing, says Kelly Starrett, DPT, who, with his wife Juliet, runs the mobility coaching company, The Ready State.

“Mobility versus stability is an old trope. What you really should ask yourself is ‘Do I have access to my native, natural range of motion, and can I control my movement through those ranges?’” says Starrett, co-author (with Juliet) of Built To Move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully.

Starrett explains that range of motion, or ROM, is how your joints and limbs move through their available space, while mobility is being able to express those ranges with control to accomplish tasks. Starrett likens native ROM (the ROM we’re born with) to a wide, spacious hallway that begins to shrink in size if we don’t maintain it.. . .

When ROM is restricted, it affects mobility, stability, and ease of movement, which, in turn, can lead to pain and injury. Starrett cites the example of a runner whose restrictions mean they can no longer maintain proper form in their stride. . . .

With age, our joints tend to become stiffer which can also lead to compensating with positions that have less stability and force. “That’s when you see people struggle to do simple tasks,” says Starrett. “The number-one reason people end up in nursing homes is because they can’t get up off the ground. That’s usually a knee or hip problem, not a strength problem.”

How to maintain your range of motion over time

Starrett’s book contains 10 tests to assess ROM, including the couch test and the sit-and-rise test: Stand up, cross one foot in front of the other, lower yourself to sit cross-legged on the ground, then stand up, without using your hands for assistance. A recent study found that participants who did best on the sit-and-rise test had a greater likelihood of survival six years later, while those who struggled most were more likely to have died.

To keep and restore ROM and mobility, you don’t need to go to a gym or class—although yoga and Pilates are beneficial—but instead to focus on targeted movements that train your joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, and brain to work together in harmony, so you move freely and effortlessly throughout life, says Starrett. His book contains 10 simple, at-home mobilization “physical practices”—there are also Mobility Workouts of the Day on his YouTube channel—and though you don’t need to go through the list daily, Starrett says it’s best to do some mobilization work every day.

For example, one of the most effective things you can do is sit on the ground for 30 minutes a day when watching TV. “You’re going to have to change position a lot to get comfortable. This creates an opportunity to spend time in ranges of motion you’re not used to,” says Starrett, who also recommends walking at least 8,000 steps a day.

While you may not be thinking about falling and not being able to get back up in your 20s or 30s, our bodies are our homes and working to maintain a spacious “movement hallway” throughout life is really about “playing the long game” to live well as we age, says Starrett.

“Your range of motion doesn’t need to change,” he says. “It’s one thing we can control at any age. If we think of body movement as a language, we are capable of Shakespeare, but most of us are using language like Dr. Seuss.”

Read the full article and get more helpful resources at Well+Good.