How Can a Stick Improve Your Mobility?
Today I’m going to look into the latest program to hit the Aussie Health & Wellness scene, called Stick Mobility.
First off as a strength and conditioning coach (S&C) and someone who is passionate about strength, mobility and recovery modalities, I thought I would investigate this as another option to my S&C coaching portfolio.
After reading the information and speaking to Australian Stick Mobility expert Tony Stahl (Sports Physiotherapist and has over 20 years of clinical experience. Steve part-owns and runs the Waurn Ponds clinic of the Corio Bay Health Group in Geelong. He is a Director of RockTape in Australia and is the lead instructor for the Australasian team of RockTape instructors) and seeing how Mobility Sticks are becoming an increasingly popular recovery modality to enhance mobility, strength and motor control, I registered to obtain my training and became a certified Stick Mobility Instructor.
Personally I believe that mobility is to have a combination of flexibility, strength and motor control, no matter if you’re an age group athlete, elite or just an everyday person wanting better flexibility and functional mobility. To be truly mobile, I believe you need to be able to have the strength to control your flexibility, and mobility.
Too often I see people who have done years of repetitive loading through their occupation, or sport; and people with good flexibility but little control of their range of movement that leads to injury. Hence, with Stick Mobility you can have a certified instructor trained to teach you a system of movement and exercise that aims to improve all three aspects of your mobility.
How does this Stick Mobility system work?
Stick mobility uses flexible, but sturdy sticks that can be used specifically to improve your range of motion, strength, and control. Furthermore, the principles that underpin the Stick Mobility system are;
Leverage - Allows people to access greater ranges of movement than they would otherwise be able to achieve safely and effectively.
Stability - Provides and increases the base of support for specific movements, and this allows the user to move with more control through range. Often the increase in perceived stability immediately enables the user to more range of movement.
Proprioception - Exercises can quickly and easily highlight to the user their differences in range of movement, strength, and control between one side of their body and the other. This feedback within a functional movement can be more meaningful to the user than physio-centric assessment methods.
Irradiation - Generate tension in one area of the body to assist in the generation of force or control in other areas of the body. People often talk about 'proximal stability granting distal mobility', and this principle can be an example of that.
Isometric strength - Working isometrically is an ideal introduction to strength training in a rehabilitation setting after injury. This is a safe and self-limiting method of strength training. With the popularity of high intensity training these days, many people are surprised how difficult it is to hold positions isometrically or with slow movements through range using the stick.
What have learnt?
Mobility sticks are a great tool to assist with improving a client's range of motion and can assist people in getting into positions they may have found difficult or too unstable, which is great for persons who may be unsteady on their feet such as the elderly. Most of all stick mobility can be progressed or regressed according to your client’s needs.
Who can benefit from Stick Mobility?
At present I am using stick mobility with my elite rugby athletes as a stand alone program, incorporating it into my warm up prescriptions and using some of the exercises with my rehab athletes. Im even adding elements of Stick Mobility into my functional fitness classes. and add another dimension to the way we can support everyone form sports people to the general population with better STRENGTH MOBILITY & RECOVERY. Furthermore, you can adapt your prescriptions having your clients, standing, lying and even sitting in chairs so there is no limit to the way you prescribe your programming for your clients.
How am I using my Stick Mobility knowledge and training?
At present I am using stick mobility with my elite rugby athletes as a stand alone program, incorporating it into my warm up prescriptions and using some of the exercises with my rehab athletes. Im even adding elements of Stick Mobility into my functional fitness classes.
How do I become a certified instructor?
Stick Mobility runs 2 day certification courses all around Australia. I'm lucky enough to have their wonderful trainers coming to Newcastle to run a course Feb 27th & 28th 2021 at my centre Strength Mobility & Recovery, you can also find dates for other courses at https://shop.stickmobility.com.au/shop/cours
