You foam roll, stretch and do mobility drills. These are all great proactive ways to help promote a proactive approach that allows you to heal yourself after injuries, soreness and muscle tightness. Unfortunately, these efforts only go so far in helping to fix the problem long term, in fact it might not even solve the problem at all.
Most people are able to get temporary relief, but the same issues continue to reoccur and the same problem arises later on down the road. Or their pain might improve, but then another odd pain pops up and you start to get a different issue in another part of your body. This is because the following two points are missing from the mobility movement that is sweeping the fitness industry today.
1.) Look past the point of pain. If you recall, the issues that you are having might have localized pain that you can identify where it is located on your body. However, you need to look above and below the point of pain to determine what is the underlying cause of this issue. Most mobility techniques focus on working the area where the pain is located, or nearby areas. This approach misses the bigger picture of overall joint relationships. In other words, if you are having elbow pain you need to focus your mobility techniques for the surrounding structures, and maybe even go as far as addressing the mobility and function of the shoulder. The human body works as a unit. Taking a segmented approach will only yield limited results.
2.)Move MORE not less when you are sore or stiff. Lack of movement is the underlying source of chronic pain. Most people know this, but don’t put theory into practice by combating the lack of movement. Having jobs that require you to sit for hours on end and not get up one time can have lasting effects on your body. The degree to which physical functionality is devolving and leading to injuries is widely overlooked. If you spend more time moving around to get things and using your body for what it was designed to do, you would have less chronic pain and when you did exercise it would not make you feel debilitating for days after.
You are made to move and function as a whole unit. Your body is an intricate machine that works on the premise of if you don’t use it you lose it. Muscles, flexibility and mobility are all a apart of that. Learn to take care of your body and it will repay you in life !