The purpose of joint mobility training

The core purpose of joint mobility training is to maintain or restore the normal physiological range of motion of joints through targeted actions such as passive loosening, active movement or resistance assistance, ensure the integrity of movement functions, reduce the risk of joint injuries in daily and sports scenarios, and ultimately adapt to the functional needs of different groups of people - whether they are rehabilitation patients who want to walk normally again after surgery, or professional runners who want to sprint PB, the underlying logic of this type of training is common.

A while ago, I saw a 28-year-old Internet programmer. After sitting at his workstation for five years, his shoulder flexion was only 120 degrees, which was enough to pull the thermos cup on the elevated shelf of the company's tea room. His shoulders hurt. At first, he thought he had frozen shoulder. After taking a X-ray, nothing happened. He just lowered his head and typed on the keyboard for a long time. The glenohumeral joint was stuck in a small range of motion for a long time, and the joint capsule contracted. After two weeks of joint loosening and active arm-raising training, he was able to hold up his mobile phone to take pictures of the sunset on the ceiling when he came for a review last week. The shoulder pain that had been bothering him for more than half a year was mostly cured. You see, for ordinary people, the most practical meaning of this training is to first maintain your most basic daily functions such as eating, picking up things, and getting dressed, so that you will not suffer even the smallest things in life.

To be honest, many people still confuse joint mobility training with ordinary stretching. In fact, they are completely different. Stretching pulls the muscles and tendons. Most of the soreness and swelling are in the muscle bellies. Joint movement training really loosens deep structures such as joint capsules and ligaments. The feeling of force is in the joint seams. It cannot be calculated by just stretching your arms and legs.

I have met too many patients after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. They were too afraid to move just after the operation because they were afraid of pain. It was not until one month after the operation that the knee joint was bent to 90 degrees. Mild adhesions had already appeared. The pain caused tears when the angle was changed later. If they had started to gradually do passive activities in the third week after the operation, they would not have suffered this crime. For those who have undergone surgery, this training is to help you "open" the "rusted" joints. Otherwise, no matter how successful the operation is, it will be in vain if the joints cannot move in the end.

As for whether to pursue the ultimate range of joint mobility, there is currently no unified statement in the rehabilitation and physical fitness circles. Most practitioners of traditional physical training believe that the range of motion is enough as long as it can cover the range of movements you want to do. For example, as long as you can squat until the hip is lower than the knee, there is no need to do a full squat that can touch the calf. If the joint capsule is too loose, it will reduce the stability of the joint and make it easy to twist and sprain. ； However, many teachers in the yoga and Pilates circles feel that greater joint mobility means a higher degree of body freedom and can unlock more movement patterns. As long as the surrounding muscles are strengthened, there will be no instability problem at all. My own experience of being in rehabilitation for 6 years is that there is nothing wrong with both sides. The core thing is to see what you want - if you just commute daily and climb mountains occasionally on weekends, then the activity level is enough for daily use, and you can't compete with a horse. ； But if you do competitive gymnastics, figure skating, or run an elite marathon, then on the premise of matching your muscle strength, appropriately expanding your range of activities can indeed help you reduce compensation and improve your performance.

Don’t think that this training is only for young people or patients. In the past two years, my mother could not stand up even when squatting to pick vegetables. Her knee joint flexion was only 70 degrees. She always said that "it is normal for your legs to be stiff when you get older." I forced her to do 10 minutes a day to slowly bend her knees, hook her feet and raise her legs. I persisted for three months. Now when I climb Huangshan Mountain with my father, I can keep up with the large troops, and I don’t need to support myself when going up and down the steps. For the elderly, maintaining normal range of motion of joints is essentially to save their quality of life in their later years, so that they will not be unable to go out early or even struggle to buy groceries.

In the final analysis, joint mobility training is never a special rehabilitation program, nor is it an exclusive snack for fitness enthusiasts. It is more like lubricating the hinges on your home door on a regular basis - if you don't lubricate, the door will struggle to open and squeak, and it will easily break after a long time. The same is true for joints. If you give it enough space for movement, it can accompany you to go further and do more of the things you want to do.