Are you too flexible? Not flexible enough? How do you know?

As human beings, we all have unique traits.  One of those traits is flexibility.  You look at those people that can touch their toes, while there are others that can barely touch their knee caps.

To understand this, lets look at a few terms: FLEXIBILITY, MOBILITY and STABILITY

FLEXIBILITY:  This refers to the RANGE of a given joint or how far a joint is able to move.  From a simplified perspective, it would be like looking at how wide a door can open (does it open one way?  Is there something limiting how wide the door can open?).  In our bodies, range is defined by how the joints fit together as well as the ligaments and structures that hold a joint together.

MOBILITY:  This refers to the AMOUNT OF CONTROL you have over the entire range of a joint.  This is often where people injure themselves as they fail to be able to control their movement, particularly at the end ranges of a joint. Again, from a simplified perspective, if you pushed a door open, is there anything controlling it from smashing against the wall after you push it?  In our bodies, this is done by muscular action.

STABILITY:  This refers to ABSENCE OF MOVEMENT.  If a joint is stable it means that it is "fixed" in a given position and maintained there.  Using the same example, a door that is locked and cannot be opened would be considered stable.  No matter how hard you push on the door, it will not move.  Most of stability is under the control of muscular action.

To sum it all up, a gymnast is an example of someone who has a tremendous amount of FLEXIBILITY (as they appear very bendy!) a great deal of MOBILITY (the ability to control the flexibility they have), and can maintain STABILITY when required (can "fix" their joints to prevent movement when they are required to do so).

I'll take a closer look at the whether or not there is value in increasing FLEXIBILITY in a future post.

Amazing combination of flexibility, mobility and stability!