Being mobile is an important aspect of living a healthy life. If a person is not able to move a joint through its full range of motion, then they are potentially putting themselves at a risk for injury. Every day you should spend time working on your joints’ ability to move. Even as little as 5-10 minutes daily is enough to see progress.

5 reasons you should move your joints daily

1. Decreases chance of injury – Any restrictions to freely moving joint poses a possible risk of injury. There are some exceptions such as a basketball player having tight ankles to prevent constant sprains from changing directions, but overall a free joint is a happy joint.
   
   
2. Keeps joints healthy- When doing mobility exercises, the joint being targeted is commonly referred to as being “warmed up.” What is actually happening is that blood is being moved to the surrounding tissues and synovial fluid (fluid in our joints which helps them glide) is shuttled into the working joint.
   
   
3. Become stronger- If our movement is restricted in a squat and we can only go down to just above parallel, how strong would the squat be through its full range of motion if we are not able to train the bottom of the movement? This logic can be applied to most exercises as well. If our mobility is limiting a full range of motion, then we cannot strengthen all ranges of a movement.
   
   
4. Time-efficient- Mobility exercises are quick, easy, and effective by design. A full upper body or lower body routine can be completed in 5-10 minutes making it optimal as a warm-up and cool down. Full-body routines can be implemented on non-training days as well and should take no more than 15-20 minutes either.
   
   
5. All you need is you- In addition to being time-efficient; mobility exercises are also very portable. Many can be down with just bodyweight movements, and the most you would ever need are some bands and a light bar or dumbbells. There really is no excuse to not stay on top of mobility work.

To get the most out of your training, your body needs to be healthy. A healthy body leads to longevity and living a comfortable life. Living a comfortable life then leads to living a happy life. I think setting aside 5-10 minutes a day is a reasonable debt to pay for a happier life, don’t you?

Written by: Nic Bronkall LMT, CSCS, Movement Specialist