Mobility VS Flexibility: What's the difference?
HOT TOPIC ALERT
Flexibility is the available range of motion in a specific joint that can be accessed passively or with a practitioner’s guidance. There are several factors that play into the amount of flexibility one has or can access.
The quality of the surrounding tissues like the tone of a muscle. If a particular muscle has increased tone or is/feels tight, the tension that is held in that tissue can limit your ability to achieve full range of motion in that joint.
The structures of a specific joint can also influence your range of motion capabilities. If dealing with an injury or physical deformity to a specific joint, the structures other than the muscle like the ligaments, cartilage, or bone can limit your flexibility via a physical barrier.
Mobility is the ability to access and control the range of motion in a specific joint. Unlike flexibility where an external force is required, mobility requires the individual to actively contract and control a joint through its current available range of motion.
An important thing to note is that just because you are flexible in nature, does not mean you are mobile. In other words, one can have a lot of flexibility in say a passive straight leg raise but when asked to actively raise their leg while straight, they may only be able to access half of the range of motion they could achieve passively. You will always have more flexibility than you do mobility, it’s part of our anatomy.
In my clinical experience working with athletes of all backgrounds, I found that flexible athletes can really benefit from strategic training focused on increasing the stability of the flexible joints to enhance performance and prevent injuries. For these individuals, we focus on mobility of the joints in order to train control and stability in those end ranges of movement so that on the field, if one has to cut directions quickly or receive a tackle, they can do so effectively and their joints are able to withstand those loads in the end ranges.
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