Episode 52
Proximal Stability for Distal Mobility
Proximal stability for distal mobility is a principle that’s often used in corrective exercise, manual treatment and personal training. Generally, it means that working on core stability can affect distal joints, providing more mobility. This is logical. A stable core may allow for less chaos in the periphery. But what does the research say?
In this episode Jenn Pilotti and I discuss 2 studies that look at how proximal strengthening impacts the knees and ankles of female athletes. The first study looks at the effect core stability has on landing kinematics for female Capoeira practitioners; the second looks at what strengthening the hip does for high school female basketball players with history of ankle injury. These studies support the notion that core stability in the lumbo pelvic hip complex affects the knees and ankles.
As Jenn explains though, this does not mean we should always work on the core before distal joints. What about the other way around? How does distal training affect the core? Glad you asked, because we discuss that in the next episode.
Highlights:
What's proximal stability? The way the literature describes it, they’re referring to stability in the lumbo-pelivc-hip complex. And that theoretically gives you stability down in the feet and out in the hands and in the head (the distal joints).
If we have a system that is well integrated then everything works well and part of that is being strong in the core, not having rigid spines.
It’s possible we can improve ankle mobility just by strengthening the hips.
Read our review of this study over at Yoga Research and Beyond