How Good Is Your Mobility?

In your 20s, bending down to tie your shoes or reaching back to grab your wallet feels effortless. As you age, your body’s soft tissues, especially the joints, become more rigid and can make daily tasks much more difficult. Eventually, your joints can stiffen so much that basic movement, like walking, becomes uncomfortable or even painful, which can increase your risk of falling or developing arthritis.

“This often creates a vicious cycle where joint stiffness leads to sedentary behavior, which leads to weaker and stiffer joints,” said Brad Manor, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Recent studies have found a correlation between joint health and longevity, and that people with better lower limb mobility are less likely to suffer from falls in their older years.

Many people don’t think much about their joints much until they start to ache, but you can catch problems early by regularly testing their ranges of motion.

For many people, the words mobility and flexibility bring to mind gymnasts performing backbends or dancers doing splits. The two ideas are related, but different, said Brandee Waite, the medical director of Health Sports Medicine at the University of California, Davis.  Flexibility is passive, she said, measuring how far your tissues can stretch. Mobility measures how well you can move a joint through its entire range, like having full extension and flexion of the knee. A 60-year-old dancer might be flexible enough to touch her toes, but not mobile enough to walk down stairs without difficulty.

Mobility can be trained and improved (to a point) by incorporating specific exercises and drills into your routine.

Do these head-to-foot joint mobility tests monthly to check in with your mobility, Dr. Hanke said. These should feel relatively easy. If you’re pushing to achieve a range or experience pain performing these tests, see a physician.