Movement and the mobility of joints are complex. To fully grasp every aspect of what goes into coordinating movement requires reverse engineering things to its basic part. We can go as far down as looking at the cellular interactions required to create movement.

But don't worry, you don’t need to know those details unless you work in the field or are a nerd, like I am :) ! The cool part is understanding how all these body systems team up.

Now, let's get to the juicy stuff. With all of that said, I have found that there are three main keys that most people are missing that has major effects on movement and mobility:

1. Centre-Of-Gravity (COG) Being Too Far Forward: Imagine your body is like a perfectly balanced seesaw. If you lean too far back, you will begin to fall backwards, your toes will lift and your body will kick on certain muscles to push you forward so you don’t fall. 

These would be muscles like the erectors, traps, calves etc which typically are involved when the pelvis is dumped forward or the ribs flare. 

On the flip side if you lean too far forward, you are again falling. This time it is forward. This creates stiffness as well with similar patterning but now you are on your toes. Muscles stiffen, joints lock and there is limited movement that occurs due to your body's perception of falling.

Our objective is to manage our COG by finding a position that allows us to move with as much movement as needed depending on the situation we’re in.

2. Tension Between the Shoulder Blades: Your shoulders are the most mobile joints in the body. This is because the ball (the head of the arm bone- humerus) is much bigger than the socket it sits in. This is analogous to a golf ball sitting on a tee. 

Sometimes this movement needs to be controlled. This sometimes occurs through tension/compression of muscles between the shoulder blades which throws our COG forward and squeezes your shoulder blades together. If we continue to compress this area, we end up rounding our shoulders.  

Picture someone has their hand in-between your shoulder blades and pushes you forward. That is what the muscles between your scapula are doing.

3. Joints That Can’t Bend: Joints require movement in order to absorb force. They need to be able to bounce in order to attenuate those forces. Think of a knee that bends and extends. When you are walking and take a step forward, our knee needs to be able to absorb a lot of those impact forces when your foot strikes the ground. There are certain muscles and tendons that are important for this absorption.

These tissues are only able to handle these loads if the knee can bend. If the knee extends, it locks the knee joint which reduces the absorption of tissues and can place more stress on the bones and tissues that aren’t in a position to handle the forces.

Try walking with your knees being able to bend and try walking with your knees extended all of the time. 

People who have their COG forward, pelvis oriented forward and ribs that flare are walking around their knees extended a lot of the time. 

Teaching joints to bend is crucial to manage forces and allow for as much mobility as needed.

So, in a nutshell, moving your body requires these three things in order to move in a fluid and coordinated way. Whether you're into fitness or just want to move without feeling like a robot, these tricks could be the missing pieces to your movement puzzle.