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Are You Stable?

As discussed in my last column, gravity is the shaping force of how we hold ourselves and learn to move without falling. Everyone with pain is unstable somewhere. If you are having pain, you have lost control of the joint and its proper movement pattern. This in turn, causes compensation and you become too stable somewhere else to make up the difference. In order for you to move and function without compensation, you need to be stable.

The 3 components of stability are mechanical, neurologic and strength, hence 3 ways for you to become unstable.

Mechanical instability is when tissues have become overstretched so they can no longer hold things in place. In this scenario, the ligaments and muscles around a joint stop providing the proper support. I see this a lot with people having knee pain where the hamstrings or hip capsules have been over stretched repeatedly making them too long. (If you can put your hands flat on the floor your hamstrings are too long). The hamstrings feel tight because they are being pulled taught by the resulting compensation. This unbalances the forces on the hip