Mobility vs. flexibility
Author: Nathan Edwards, Physiotherapist
If you have ever spent any time around sports or have dabbled in the fitness world in any capacity, then you have probably heard the words “mobility” and “flexibility” thrown around quite a bit. Both mobility and flexibility are key components of safe and healthy movement and should be a consideration for anyone who is active or is looking to become more active.
With that said, it is important to consider that mobility and flexibility are NOT the same thing, despite the words being used interchangeably in many instances.
I’ll simplify this a little bit, but in short, flexibility is the ability of your connective tissues (muscles/ligaments/etc) to elongate under passive load. Passive load could be someone else taking you through assisted movement, it could be using your body weight/gravity to lean into a stretch, or it could be you pulling into a stretch with your hands or with a band/support.
Conversely, mobility is your ability to control movement through the available range of motion and is an active process. Good mobility requires flexibility, but the reverse is not true.
Now, I appreciate that the last sentence sounds like a riddle and that this may be confusing so far, but stick with me and I’m hoping to clear this up with some examples.
Key notes so far:
- Flexibility is passive (the elongating tissue is not contracting)
- Mobility is dynamic (requires strength/control)
I’ll try and simplify this with some easy examples:
1. In standing, raise your knee towards your chest without any assistance from your hands; this would be an example of active mobility for hip flexion. If you then used your hands to pull your knee toward your chest, this would be an example of the joints full flexibility in that movement.
2. Laying on your back, keep your knee straight and raise your leg as high as you can in what we call an active straight leg raise, this would be an example of mobility. In the same position, loop a strap around your foot and pull your straight leg towards you as far as you can and test your hamstring flexibility.
The key factor is that mobility is all about active control and that flexibility is a passive characteristic. Flexibility typically reveals a greater range of motion, because it doesn’t depend on your body’s ability to get to the positions. Mobility is your ability to actively use your flexibility.
So, what’s the point of all of this?? Well, since you now (hopefully) recognize that they are not the same thing, you are better equipped to recognize and work on areas of issue that might arise with either flexibility OR mobility.
Final thought: Working on both flexibility and mobility are important to moving well and therefore living well. Having good mobility requires flexibility and is associated with lower injury rates, which I would speculate is due to the idea that mobility better represents the demands of day to day life; there are not too many tasks where we move passively through a full range of motion, life requires control.
Check out this short video for some more examples. Otherwise, go get moving! (And reach out if you need help or want to discuss this in greater detail).
