What is a What is a simple hip mobility

test look like to you?

>> Well, the the question here is um you

know, [clears throat] what should the

hip should What What should the hip be

able to do, right? And And I say hip as

in the chain, right? But that's the big

primary engine.

The spine is the first engine, but then

we have these big primary engines of the

hips and the shoulders. And what's

interesting about that conversation is

that if I ask people who are very

sophisticated about their running

training or their nutrition, I'm like,

"What should the hip should be be able

to do? What's normal? What's What's far

from normal? What does every physician

agree we should be able to do?" They

have no idea. What's What's normal hip

flexion? Bring your knee to your chest.

Well, this was really where we

recognized that one of the problems that

we had or opportunities we had is to

make these range of motion tests part of

the training, so that I could the

stimulus for adaptation exercise was

also the diagnostic tool, right? So, I

can understand what's going on. So,

easily we all should be able to hip

squat hip crease below the knee, right?

That's a really simple test. And if

you're struggling to do that, tells me a

little bit about your readiness today.

And again, you could be stiff, you got

old injuries, you got you know, it

doesn't There's no judgment there.

Um if you stand on one leg, you should

be able to pull your other knee up past

90°, and most people would struggle for

that. Uh we have a simple test in the

last book called the sit-and-rise test,

which everyone has heard of now. Just

lower yourself to the ground crisscross

applesauce, right? Without falling. And

then without putting a knee down or hand

down, pop back up. And so, what's nice

about that is that that's not even a

full range of motion test. It's not even

uh doesn't require that much strength,

but it's a good indicator that you may

be missing some hip flexion. Being able

to fold forward to shift your weight is

really the the limiter there. So, if we

can begin to create some some fence

posts, some guidelines

for people to understand what's more

normative or not around their own range

of motion, then you can keep an eye on

it.

And the the sit and rise test, isn't

there some data on that with

associations and longevity?

>> basically, imagine that all these things

are proxies, right? As you've talked

about, like I don't really care what

your grip strength is, I care what you

do with that grip strength. But you if

you're doing a lot of fun stuff with

your grip strength, your grip strength

is going to be good. So, it's a proxy

for all these other things, right?

And that test tells us a lot about your

movement choice, your ability to solve

movement problems, your ability to

you [clears throat] know, modulate your

your balance.

And so, it may not be that that's the

end all be all. If put a hand down, you

could probably still be a hundred. I

mean, we probably have some aunties in

our lives who are over 90 who've never

done the sit and rise test, never done

keto, never went to a high-intensity

exercise class, but there there's

something about their lifestyle.

We just got back from Japan. We're

sleeping on the ground.

Cultures that toilet on the ground,

sleep on the ground, eat on the ground,

fall risk in the elderly drops to almost

zero.

Osteoarthritis in the hips and low back

drops almost zero. There's something

about maybe we should touch these shapes

once in a while, and then that makes it

so that it's on the map of the brain.

We're touching and loading those

tissues. They the brain doesn't start to

pare down some of that movement as as

irrelevant. So, really the question is,

what should I do every day? And then now

we can ask the next following questions,

what are essential movements in strength

and conditioning, which is really just a

form of movement practice under load.

Like, for example,

um we have we have a simple test called

the couch stretch. Have you ever done

the couch stretch? You put your knee in

the corner.

>> I've heard about it.

>> Okay, okay. So, it's basically just a

real simple assessment of some hip

extension that So, if you were kneeling

facing away from the wall, you put your

knee in the corner, so your foot is

going up the wall, and then you bring

your other leg up into a high kneeling

position. Right? So, you're kind It's

kind of like a lunge, but your leg is

really bent and going up the wall. So,

it's a short lever lunge position.

And what we're looking for there is can

you get your back upright without banana

backing, without just kind of arching?

Can you take a breath there? And then

can you squeeze your butt there? And

what we often find is that people are so

restricted in their quads they can't

even get into that test position

because they're so restricted for

whatever reason, but also it inhibits

their ability to squeeze their butt. So,

what we see is sometimes when people are

missing hip extension, cuz this is

really a simple test of looking at what

the tissues

should be able to do as we move towards

extension, getting that knee behind my

butt like a lunge or a run,

that butt gets inhibited because the

quads are tight, the pelvis tips over,

whatever reason. The brain is basically

like, we can't fire that glute against

this resistance. So, we use that as a

assessment for, hey, let's spend some

time here isometrics.

We can get your butt practicing that

squeezing so your brain says, oh, in

this position, I can do a normal

muscular drill, get my butt squeezing

when the quads are tight. But that's a

good example of why a lot of times

people have really strict stiff

hamstrings all the time. They're always

sitting in a bent position,

and then the hamstring is doing the work

of the butt and the hamstring all the

time instead of the butt doing its job

and the hamstring doing its job

together. So, it's an a good example of

sometimes that hamstring pathology

could be as a result of working in

incomplete positions where a lot of my

physiology is sort of what I call

positionally inhibited. And the same

thing could be true of your shoulder.