Top 5 Mobility Exercises for Runners Recommended by Sports Therapists

Mobility refers to your ability to move your joints and muscles easily for comfortable movement. Factors such as physical stamina, strength, balance, coordination, and range of motion can ensure that you have good mobility. Generally, mobility is an essential aspect of physical function that may affect your overall quality of life. As a professional athlete or someone who enjoys running for fitness for recreational running, you should understand the importance of functional and joint mobility for running, because better mobility translates into better performance, improved flexibility, lesser injuries, and enhanced overall physical health. However, it is not uncommon to see many professional athletes or casual runners suffer from mobility issues that can hinder performance and lead to injury.

Since running is a repetitive motion, runners might face mobility issues due to a tightening of the major muscle groups involved. However, sports therapists who are experts in movement and injury have maintained that most mobility issues can be resolved through mobility exercises. These exercises can help runners to improve and maintain joint health, reduce muscle imbalances, and prevent injuries to enhance mobility. Therefore, sports therapists often include effective mobility exercises in training programs for athletes and physically active individuals. This article will explore the most effective mobility exercises that sports therapists recommend for runners. 

Why Does Mobility Matter for Runners?

Flexibility is often confused to mean the same thing as mobility. However, while the two components of physical function are related, they mean different things. Mobility refers to the ability of a joint to actively move through its full range of motion. It does not only involve physical movement, it also involves the freedom and independence to perform your daily tasks without assistance. The following highlight the importance of mobility for runners:

• Improved stride and gait mechanics: Better mobility in runners allows for a greater range of motion in the joints, leading to an improved and more efficient running gait. In addition, runners may notice improvements in stride length, foot strike patterns, and their overall running form. 

• Better posture, balance, and coordination: Good posture, balance, and coordination are essential for high performance and endurance in runners. Improved mobility can enhance spinal and hip mobility, promoting upright posture. It can also enhance neuromuscular control and endurance, reducing fatigue and breathing restrictions. 

• Reduced risks of injury: Limited mobillity in the knees, hips, and ankles of a runner can increase their risk of developing runner’s knees, plantar fasciitis, IT band syndrome, and other musculoskeletal injuries. In addition, the lack of mobility in some areas of the body causes the body to compensate in other areas, leading to excessive strain, injury, and imbalance. For example, if you have stiff hips, your lower back may be forced to work harder to compensate for loss of mobility in the hips. However, better mobility strengthens the joints and reduces muscle imbalances, reducing your risks of developing injuries. 

• Enhanced recovery: Increased mobility can aid faster recovery and reduce muscle stiffness after runs because of the better circulation of blood flow to the muscles. Therefore, people who have better mobility may have reduced risks of developing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). 

• Better efficiency and performance: Improved mobility enhances muscle elasticity and the range of motion in your joints, leading to increase in speed, agility, power, and strength.

This can help you to get better performances without increasing the energy you expend over long distances. 

These and many more are reasons why runners should aim to get better mobility to improve their performance and sustain it for a long time. 

Top 5 Mobility Exercises For Runners

There are several exercises that a sports therapist may recommend to improve mobility, reduce the risks of injury, and enhance the performance of a runner. These exercises, when incorporated into warm-up and recovery routines, produce effective and impressive results. The following are the top 5 mobility exercises that a sports therapist may recommend for a runner:

World’s Greatest Stretch

Static and dynamic stretching exercises can play an important role in improving mobility and increasing the range of motion around the joints. The “World’s greatest stretch” is a dynamic mobility exercise that combines several stretching exercises to target multiple muscle groups at once, including the hips, hamstrings, shoulder, and thoracic spine. This mobility exercise activates the entire body to enhance flexibility and mobility. It is suitable for professional athletes and fitness enthusiasts that engage in running. You can perform the “World’s greatest stretch” through the following steps:

• Start with a high lunge with your right foot forward and your left foot extended backwards
• Support yourself with your hands next to the inside of your front foot
• Place your left hand on the ground, rotating your right arm upward. This action will open your chest to the side
• Hold this pose for about 2–3 seconds, then bring your right elbow down toward your right instep
• Come back to standing position
• Change sides and perform the rotation with your right hand on the ground, rotating your right arm upward
• Each side counts as one repetition
• After rotating either side, straighten your front leg to stretch the hamstring
• Return to lunge and repeat for 4–5 reps, then switch sides again

While performing this mobility exercise, ensure to keep your back leg straight and hips square, breathing deeply with each movement. The “World’s greatest stretch” can improve your stride length rotational control, ensuring that you have a more fluid and powerful gait. 

Hip 90/90 Rotations

The Hip 90/90 rotations is a extreme stretch that can build hip mobility and address pain in the back, knees, and feet. This mobility exercise targets internal and external hip rotation, creating an internal rotation in one hip and an external rotation on the other. Although the hip 90/90 rotations targets a network of muscles that cover the full range of motion in your hips, it may not be suitable for everyone. If your sports therapist has recommended this mobility exercise for you, the following is a step-by-step guide on how to perform the hip 90/90 rotations:

• Start by sitting on the floor, positioning your right leg so it extends in front of your body and your outer thigh against the floor. This puts your hip in an external rotation.
• Bend your knees at 90 degrees, externally rotating your front leg and internally rotating your back leg.
• Keep your heels planted and slowly rotate both knees to the opposite side.
• Focus on holding your torso straight up with your shoulders square, focusing on controlled movements.
• Repeat this exercise for 8-10 reps

Lack of hip mobility often compromises your stability and stride efficiency. However, the hip 90/90 rotation can help to promote joint health, preventing hip impingement and other injuries. 

Open Book Rotation

Arm movements are important while running. Therefore, a sports therapist may recommend mobility exercises like the open book rotation that encourage a mobile thoracic spine to improve arm swings and allow for better breathing during runs. This mobility exercise can also prevent shoulder or lower back discomfort while running, ensuring that you can focus on your leg work. The following are precise steps on how to perform the open book rotation exercise:

• Lie on your side with your knees bent at around 90 degrees.
• Extend your arms straight in front of you, palms together.
• Rotate your top arm across your body, and “open” like a book, keeping your legs pressed together.
• Repeat for 10 reps and then swap sides.

This mobility exercise improves spinal motion, restores functional rotation, and enhances mobility.

Hamstring Sweeps

This is a dynamic stretch that targets the hamstrings and posterior chain to prepare them for running. The hamstrings flex the knee to bring the foot up behind. Therefore, they are indispensable for runners. Hamstring sweeps activate and lengthen the hamstring muscles dynamically to prepare them for the demands of running. The following is a step-by-step guide on how to perform the dynamic hamstring sweep exercise:

• While standing upright, take a short step forward with one leg
• Plant the heel on the floor with the toes up and bend through the back knee and as you lean forward
• Sweep your arms from back to front then overhead, hinging your hips back like a deadlift
• Repeat this five to ten times on each leg

Hamstring sweeps improves hamstring flexibility and reduces tightness, ensuring that you can maintain full stride length. It also improves the blood flow to the target muscles, ensuring that you are prepared to run.

Wall Ankle Mobility Drill

This mobility exercise targets the calf muscles, Achilles tendon, ankle joint capsule, and the ankle dorsiflexion range of motion. Limited mobility in your ankle as a runner can cause your body to overcompensate, putting you at risk of injuries in your knees, hips, and lower back. However, the wall ankle mobility drill can improve your ankle mobility by encouraging synovial fluid movement and keeps the ankle joint supple. The following is a step-by-step guide on how to perform this mobility exercise:

• Stand facing a wall with your toes about a hand length away from the wall.
• Take a foot step back.
• Bend your front knee toward the wall while keeping your heel on the ground.
• Aim to touch the wall with your front knee for a deep ankle stretch.
• Repeat for 10 reps per leg.

The wall ankle mobility drill exercise can help to reduce Achilles tendon stress and enhance stride efficiency.

These are some of the top 5 mobility that sport therapists in San Ramon, CA, may recommend to improve your mobility and running performance.

Conclusion

Mobility is a foundation for runners. Without this component of physical function, you may be unable to run as you like or even run at all. Therefore, to ensure that you are always at your best performance, sports therapists may recommend mobility exercises to prevent and address mobility issues. If you suffer from mobility issues affecting your ability to run, you should consult our specialists at Ironhorse Physical Therapy & Pilates.