Start Here: Mobility Is Your Path To Pain Relief

Pain and injuries are part of life for active people. The true goal is maximizing mobility.  This is what prevents injuries and makes pain an infrequent visitor. There are two components to mobility: Flexibility and the strength to control it through a full range of motion.

If you are over 40 years old, many experts will tell you it’s impossible to regain 100% mobility. However, I’ve experienced it myself in my 60s and promise you can too. Years of physical therapy helped, but old injuries kept resurfacing until I developed the protocol I’m about to share. 

#1. Assess The Situation

#2. Gradually Restore Mobility

#3. Strengthen Supporting Tissues

When you experience pain, tightness or any kind of reduced mobility, the first thing you want to do is introduce gentle movements. Move the body to increase blood flow to the affected areas. This also activates synovial fluids to lubricate joints. These systems bring nutrients to the injured area and remove waste products.

Every injury involves some degree of swelling. It will subside when its job is complete, and you can help it by moving the muscles, tendons, ligaments and associated tissues that support joints. Your issue may not directly involve a joint, an ankle, knee or hip, but it’s nearly 100% likely that it’s connected to one or more of them.

A joint that regularly experiences a full range of motion is a healthy joint. When our joints don’t move properly, the body compensates by recruiting muscles and ligaments in a way for which it wasn’t designed. We call this a workaround. 

As you continue down the road to recovery, you want to challenge the joints to build the supporting tissues. You can accomplish this by practicing only one exercise. It’s the squat – but I’m going to give you three versions for variety. 

Why the squat, you may wonder? It’s the one movement that challenges your feet, ankles, knees, hips, core, lower and upper back, and everything in between. Everyone should practice the deep resting squat daily to promote longevity for running and general living. 

Here are the most essential squats, from basic to more advanced.

#1. Split Squats (image below)

#2. Deep Resting Squats

#3. Cossack Squats

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