The Death of Flexibility
Last Updated on March 24th, 2024
FLEXIBLE: defined by Webster.com as being capable of bending or being bent; pliant.

MOBILE: defined by Webster.com as the capability of being moved; adaptable, versatile. 

Most people use these terms interchangeably. One is synonymous with the other. But when you break it down in regard to sport development and movements it may not be as analogous as you think.  So, let’s break this down a little more. 

How many times as coaches or athletes have you said someone would be a better athlete if they improved their flexibility? You would be faster if you were more flexible. You would decrease injuries if you weren’t so tight. Everyone I’m sure at one point in time has said something along those lines. That is what society typically thinks, right? If you need to stretch you’re probably tight. If you’re tight you’re inflexible. If you’re inflexible you need to stretch. But are you stretching the right areas? Maybe, maybe not. 

What made the most sense to me is when Mike Boyle broke down the body. If you look at our body, it alternates in mobile and stabile joints, like this.  
Using the knee as an example. The knee is a stabile joint and surrounded by two (above and below) mobile joints, the ankle and hip. 

Let’s go through this starting at the bottom of the body: 
Ankle: Mobile 
Knee: Stabile 
Hip: Mobile 
Lumbar Spine (Low Back): Stable 
Thoracic Spine (Mid/Upper Back): Mobile 
Scapula: Stable 
Shoulder (Glenohumeral Joint): Mobile 
Elbow: Stable 
Wrist: Mobile 

So, first thing we need to do is examine the 2 definitions from above and decipher which each one really means. According to the definitions above, flexibility is the ability to bend. At first glance, this doesn’t look too bad. Being able to bend and stretch is good. Flexibility is important, we all know that. I am not trying to refute that. But mobility is the ability to move. Essentially, flexibility is the stretching or lengthening of a muscle and mobility is the movement of a joint. In this particular respect, we are talking about the body being able to move in certain directions. Mainly, the mobile joints shown above being able to move in the greatest range of motion, or ROM (there is such a condition of being too mobile, or hypermobile, causing joint laxity – but I will cover that in another post). 

As an athlete, which is more important? Would we rather have an athlete with a great sit and reach but cannot move side to side? How about a defensive back who can touch his toes standing, but can’t flip his hips when the receiver eats up his cushion? A catcher who can palm the ground but can’t get into a blocking position? Are you beginning to see the difference in terminology and why mobility may be more important than flexibility? 

Increasing mobility of our mobile joints will subsequently add stability to our stable joints. For example, a typical pain point is the low back in rotational sports. Some may look at it and say the athlete needs to stretch the low back, or even the hamstrings. 

The low back pain is the site, but it may not be the symptom. As a rule, I look at the joints above and below the affected joint. This would be the hips and the thoracic spine (T-Spine). The low back, or lumbar spine, only rotates 10-13 degrees but the T-spine, or upper back, rotates 60-70 degrees and the hip rotates 20-120 degrees in various directions. This being said, if the mobility of the T-Spine or the hip is decreased or negatively affected the low back must compensate for the lack of mobility. Putting even an extra 2 degrees of torsion on the low back, and making a stabile joint engage in mobility, can cause serious effects on back health. Stretching the low back or the hamstrings probably will not fix the issue because the issue lays in the mobility of the joints not the flexibility of the musculature. 

So how do we get mobility? We like to use our warm up as our greatest asset in terms of mobility. We use several warm up exercises to elicit great ROM in our ankles, hips, T-Spine, and shoulders. All of our workout exercises are performed in full ROM (bench and squat included) and we end everyday with some soft tissue work with foam rollers and lacrosse balls (baseballs and tennis balls work fine too). The soft tissue work helps break up scar tissue and myofascial “knots” to help the quality of our muscles and it aids in recovery and decreased soreness post workout (Pearcey et al, 2015). Think of it as a self-inflicted deep tissue massage. 
REFERENCES
Pearcey, G., Bradbury-Squires, D., Kawamoto, J.,Drinkwater, E., Behm, D., Duane C. Button, D. Foam Rolling for Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness and Recovery of Dynamic Performance Measures. Journal of Athletic Training. 2015; 50(1):5–13.
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