Joint mobility exercises for longevity
A simple and gentle joint mobility routine is a great way to maintain the health of your joints through life. Do 10 repetitions of each exercise (5 reps. either direction) and move from head to toe as in this video.
Joint surfaces become stuck due to compression, inactivity and injury. A practice of routinely getting those joint surfaces gliding, rotating, and shifting freely across one another can protect the health of the articular cartilage and lubricating factors of our joints.
Before you begin loading your joints with the demands of the tasks of daily living, undo the restrictions from the day before with one or two minutes of mobility work. Use this routine or make up your own. Do it throughout the day, particularly after a period of inactivity like sitting at a desk for an hour or more, or after sleeping.
Joint Mobility as part of your warm up to sports
Joint mobility work should be part of your warm up or cool down around your sports activities.
When joints are articulating as normally as possible, athletic performance improves, and injury is less likely to occur.
Joint mobility work does include some stretching of muscles, although the focus is on differentiating joints from each other.
Dynamic flexibility exercises on the other hand, are relatively low intensity movements that stretch and contract muscles and also move joints through movement patterns specific to your sport or activity.
Here is how joint mobility works well in a warm up routine before sport:
1. Joint mobility
2. Dynamic Flexibility
3. Sport/Activity you are doing
4. Static Flexibility
5. More Dynamic Flexibility (optional)
6. More Joint Mobility (optional)