The Joint by Joint Approach
Over the years, working with the tactical professional and general population, my perspective has shifted on movement. The joint by the joint approach has become a way to assess an individual's health as a whole. Mike Boyle and Gray Cook developed the joint by joint approach to categorize how joints function from a singular movement system to a multifaceted movement system. Educating ourselves on how our body moves is largely important to our health, promoting longevity and potential shortcomings as pain, injury, and movement function as we age.
Foot (Stability) - The foot is our foundation. Ideally, most athletes have minimal motor control, which tends to lower the capacity of stress the foot can handle.
Ankle (Mobility) - The ankle tends to be a joint that needs a lot of movement; Therefore, developing mobility, stability, and strength is ideal for having optimal performance in all aspects of the movement.
Knee (Stability) - The knee is a joint that tends to get real sloppy. We must work in multiple planes of motion to help create/develop the stability, strength, and motor control needed to withstand our everyday life's rigors.
Hip (Mobility/Stability) - The hip is a joint that prompts an everyday range of motion: extension/flexion, medial, and lateral rotation. We tend to see a lack of motor control in the hips and overuse of the lumbar spine.
Lumbar Spine (Stability) - The lumbar is a joint that we tend to see greater stress mechanically. When we lose motor control, we see two things happen: sloppiness and stiffness.
Thoracic Spine (Mobility) - The thoracic is a joint that allows the spine to extend and flex while under stress. This area has the ability to decrease performance due to poor posture, which leads to a decrease in oxygen consumption.
Cervical Spine/Shoulder Scap (Mobility/Stability) - These two areas tend to create stiffness and sloppiness over time due to lack of range of motion and strength in these joints.
Each of these joints offers a specific attribute but ultimately, the joint needs three characteristics -- mobility, stability, and strength. There could be an argument on which characteristics are most important, which doesn't truly matter. Mobility, stability, and strength play a vital role in how the athlete's movement literacy. Movement literacy can be broken into three parts; isolation, integration, innovation to improve skill acquisition, and motor control. Giving the athlete the ability to run, jump, catch, kick and throw with agility, balance, and coordination safely to lower the risk of pain, injury, and movement dysfunction to their environment.
Accessing an athlete health isn't just looking at numbers on a screen or other biofeedback wearables. Simple taking a deep dive into the athlete's movement literacy can be another tool that gives you insight into how healthy the individual can.
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