Joe Norton PT

View Original

14 Day Social Distancing Mobility Challenge- Day 3

Most of us will be staying at home over the next few weeks. As gyms are closed we will need to get creative with workouts. This is an excellent opportunity to self assess and treat your mobility. Over the next 14 days, I will present you with a daily mobility workout to enhance your function 🤸🏼‍♀️

.

This should not require much time, less than 10 minutes. I am intending the drills to be able to be completed at home with minimal equipment

.

Todays mobility will be Hip Flexion. This movement is needed in any exercise involving moving the knees towards the chest such as squatting or lifting the leg to walk up stairs. When this motion is diminished the lower back moves more to compensate. The hip is designed to be a mobile, yet stable joint. The lower back is not designed to handle large amplitude or high frequency of movement. So in order to make your hips more efficient to improve squat depth and to offload the back lets get you moving!

Assessment:

Key Points:

  • Back position stays the same throughout the hip motion

  • The knee does not move in or out, it moves in a straight plane

  • Smile!

If you passed this test, then excellent job! if you found maintaining your back position, keeping the knee in line required a lot of work, or you felt tension or discomfort while doing the test, then I would highly recommend going through the next exercises.

Mobilizations:

Motion loss is typically due to two sources: soft tissues and joints. When working to optimize mobility at a joint the best way is usually to treat both. The next two videos will review mobility workouts designed to enhance hip flexion functional mobility.

MOTOR CONTROL

Immediately following mobility work, we need to teach the body and the brain how to use the new range of motion or hold these new positions. If we did not do this extra step you will not maintain the gains. 

.

LMK how the exercises go. Share if you enjoyed the content!

Joe