The approach that you take to improve joint range of motion or mobility depends on the needs of the individual.  We can’t assume that one method will be effective in every case. That’s why some form of assessment is usually in order to determine which method to apply to achieve the desired result.

For example, if the goal is to increase hip internal rotation, the method(s) you choose may depend on whether it’s a muscular or capsular limitation.  Muscular issues respond to a variety of methods from simple static stretching, PNF techniques, or dynamic mobility exercises to name just a few.  Capsular restrictions will tend to respond best to passive joint mobilization and low-load, passive tension (prolonged low intensity stretching).

Here’s a quickie test to determine muscular limitation from capsular limitation using the same hip internal rotation restriction.

Lie supine with the hip and knee bent to 90 degrees and internally rotate the hip.  The flexion of the hip “relaxes” the hip capsule and brings the muscles under tension.  Limitation in range of motion will tend to be muscular in origin.

Lie prone with hip in neutral alignment.  Bend the knee to 90 degrees and internally rotate the hip.  Because the hip is in neutral there is less tension on the muscle tissues, so any limitation will tend to be capsular.

Select the best method to achieve the desired result.

Bill

It’s not uncommon to read discussions (or is it arguments) about how deep someone should squat.

It never fails that someone says,”You should squat ass to the grass.”

Well, wouldn’t it be nice if we could all possess such extreme hip mobility to do such a thing because it’s actually pretty rare. 

Based on my experience in working with “normal people,” it’s rather rare to have someone demonstrate the ability to squat to even parallel effectively and safely let alone go “ass to the grass”.  Higher level athletes often don’t do much better.

Here’s a couple of suggestions to get you more depth right away:

Do front squats.  The anterior placement of the weight increases trunk stiffness that can overcome stiffness in the hip that would typically limit depth. 

Widen your stance.  The wider stance reduces range of motion demands on the ankles and reduces tension in the stiffer or shorter muscles of the hips.  Increasing toe out in your stance may even give you a little more.  As you gain mobility, you can progressively return to your desired stance.

So how deep should you squat?

While it depends on several issues, let me give you some advice.

Avoid squatting deeper than the point where your butt tucks under.  If you’re not sure what I mean, watch someone squat or video yourself.  Watch the tailbone (sacrum) during the squat.  At some point, you’ll see the sacrum tilt backward (counternutation).  At that point the stiffness of the hips have overcome the stiffness of the spine which places the spine at risk for injury.

Bill
www.billhartman.net

“There’s usually a sign before there’s a symptom.”
-Shirley Sahrmann

I would have to say that I fall into the “if you’re not assessing, you’re guessing” group of fitness professionals.  Everyone program that I develop for individuals that I work with is based on how they present to me during some form of a direct assessment. 

At the other end of the spectrum are the group of professionals that don’t believe that an assessment is warranted.  Perhaps it’s the belief that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  In other words, a lack of pain is indicative of normal function.

 I personally can’t follow this line of thinking because of information that has been accumulated in the last 10-15 years in regard to how the body works as a linked system.  When we evaluate athletes and fitness clients, many times we find that although they may be high level performers or appear to quite fit, they are also great compensators during movement.

Much like your car driving out of alignment, it may still drive fairly well but the progressive wear ‘n’ tear accumulated over time will result in some form of costly breakdown.  In the case of the human kinetic chain, malalignment and compensation combined with repetitive movement results in adaptations leading to injury that may not be all that fixable.

Assessments and reassessments allow professionals to not only track progress (maybe just to see if your program really does work) but to identify signs that if ignored may very well become symptomatic or lead to serious injury.  Then we can implement an appropriate corrective strategy that may prevent potential injury and even raise performance as the body becomes a more efficient system.

I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Bill

P.S.  Sorry for the big gap in posts.  We had some family health issues to resolve and then some technical issues, but we are back up and running.

I recently contributed to a little project that Leigh Peele put together.

It’s called Beyond the Norm: Advanced Questions for Advanced Trainers and Nutritionists.

Contributors include:

Lou Schuler
Mike Robertson
Jonathan Fass
Alan Aragon
Tony Gentilcore
Geovanni Derice
John Izzo
Jimmy Smith
Robert Dos Remedios
Chris Mohr
Leigh Peele
and Me!

This isn’t your typical Q & A and it answers a lot of very specific questions and progression dealing with your post-workout nutrition (not what you think) as well as dealing with hip/pelvic/shoulder issues.

Get from Leigh Peele by signing up for her newsletter.

Bill

When it comes to developing hip mobility, hurdle mobility drills typically fall way short of the intended goal.

Case in point…

I have 5 athletes of varying sizes training together and one set of hurdles set up for step-overs and duck-unders.

(Smart guys don’t give it away… just wait for it…let the others catch up)

The assumption must then be that my bigger, taller athletes have much greater general mobility than my smaller, shorter athletes for duck-unders and my shorter athletes have greater hip mobility for step-overs, right?

Wrong.

One size does not fit all, and it usually results in some form of compensation in the lumbar spine and pelvis rather than an increase in hip mobility.

I’m sure you’ve seen it.

Big guys ducks under the hurdle and it ends up looking like a dog taking a dump in the back yard as he rounds his back to get under the hurdle rather than utilizing hip flexion (that he doesn’t have a sufficient quantity of to perform the task correctly in the first place).

The opposite is also true.

Try to step over a hurdle that is too high and the pelvis must be tilted posteriorly to get the foot up high enough for clearance. This also promotes reduced hip extension on the support leg.

For those of you who regularly perform the Functional Movement Screen or a Klatt test you’ll see this technique quite often during your assessements of those who lack hip mobility.

Why reinforce bad mobility during training as well as methods that can promote back injury over time?

At best, with the optimum, individualized hurdle height, hip mobility can be reinforced with hurdle mobility drills but not improved.

For that use other effective drills that don’t result in injury potentiating technique.

Bill