Daily Maestroism
DM #89
Saturday, August 20th, 2016
DM #89: Mobility and stability are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other. The world of functional fitness has both championed and demonized mobility, attributing basically any pain or movement dysfunction to a lack of mobility. That just isn't the case.
Poor motor control or poor stability at an area, or with a movement pattern, can manifest as pain, and as an apparent mobility deficit. One way to determine the presence of a mobility restriction as a cause of movement dysfunction or pain is to reduce the postural demands of the movement. This can be accomplished by changing the position (going from standing to quadruped or supine) or decreasing the resistance. If full range of motion, and/or elimination of symptoms is noted in this new position, then your mobility isn't the issue.
Often times people will complain of anterior hip pain and pinching with squatting, because of a lack of midline and/or hip stability. When they load this pattern, their body compensates for the lack of stability by tightening up the hips, thereby decreasing the available mobility at that moment in time. The result is approximation of tissue and bones, aka pinching or compression or tightness. Reduce the postural demands so that the resistance can be handled by the available stability, and suddenly there's no pinching, no pain, no problems.
It should be noted that if this pinching is allowed to go on long enough and the tissues get irritated enough, unloaded movements may become painful, even though there is not a mobility deficit present. So make sure you handle your ? early.
Long story short, before you go blaming your mobilizing your hips until they fall off, make sure they even need to be mobilized in the first place.
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