Thank you for joining me again this evening for our nightly podcasts. I perform these podcasts in the hopes that you will be able to education yourself on the topics discussed so you can make better informed medical decisions regarding your health in the future. I am doctor Harrison Campbell of Restoration Health a premier sugar land chiropractors office. Previously we discussed joint dysfunction and the results on your health should the problem not be addressed. Tonight, we will be discussing the inverse relationship between mobility and stability, which we have briefly mentioned before.
We have previously mentioned in a few podcasts the mobility versus the stability of joints. Now if you recall this was usually done when comparing the shoulder to the hip. The reason for these two joints is because they are perhaps the best example of two joins of the same classification which sit on very different positions on this scale of mobility versus stability.
As sugar land chiropractors know the shoulder and the hip are what is called ball and socket joints. This is due to the two bones forming these joints having the shapes of a ball and socket. This is where the first differences between the joints comes into play and where the mobility versus stability starts. For the shoulder the scapula forms the socket, while it is the illium in the hip which creates the socket. Now the portion of the scapula which is the socket is called the glenoid fossa. This glenoid fossa is actually not a socket at all, but a flat marginally concaved surface. The socket comes from a tough fibrocartilage ringing the fossa to create the socket called the labrum. With the glenoid fossa and the labrum, the ball of the humerus can sit in the shoulder. For the illium, the socket is called the acetabulum. Now this acetabulum is a true socket where the ball of the femur can reside for the hip.
Now since the shoulder has a shallow socket ringed by fibrocartilage there is much more room for the ball of the humerus to glide and move. This creates a joint as sugar land chiropractors know which has very high mobility. The hip on the other hand has a very deep socket made of bone which limits the mobility the ball of the femur can attain but does provide stability for it.
If you take a step back and think, these joints are designed according to their function. Our upper extremities, meaning arms, allow us to interact with the world. It would benefit us to be able to have increased mobility with the extremities responsible for this. On the other hand, the lower extremities provide us the means to walk, but in order to be bipedal, meaning to stand on two legs, the joints must be stable.
This is where sugar land chiropractors draw the conclusion of joints having mobility versus stability. Our body can provide stability and mobility, but the more of one we have, the less of the other we will have. The two forces being discussed are direct opposites of each other. To move is to be unstable, and to be stable is to be unmoved.
Now what this means for us at humans is there are inherently more injuries with a joint that has less stability. While hip injuries od occur, the frequency at which they do is much less than the frequency of shoulder problems. Now we have discussed the shoulder in great detail before. There is the rotator cuff, which sugar land chiropractors can tell you is a group of four muscles which help increase the stability of the shoulder as best they can.
The hip on the other hand has four main muscle groups to assist with mobility. There are the flexors in the anterior side, the extensors on the posterior side, the abductors on the outside or lateral side, and finally the adductors on the interior or medial side. These muscle groups move the hip joint through its motions, but remember they are limited in this motion. The body acetabulum will only allow for a certain range of motion before there is no more motion to be had. During motion palpation this is what sugar land chiropractors call a boney end feel. When you take the joint to the max end of the range of motion and run into a bone preventing further motion.
All joints follow this mobility versus stability principles. For instance, let us compare the wrist and ankle. Now the wrist is highly mobile as it provides very high dexterity and mobility for the hand. The ankle has good mobility was provides a great deal of stability as it connects the foot to lower extremity. We want to have mobility for the wrist, without it we would reduce the function of our hands. Now if you know the anatomy of the wrist like sugar land chiropractors do the number of ligaments and tendons which support the wrist is astronomical. This is because there is so much mobility we need to have as much stability as possible from the other anatomical structures.
The ankle on the other hand has many ligaments to provide the stability and the muscles to provide the mobility. The ankle is a very stable joint as a result, and it needs to be. The entire weight of the body presses down on this joint while you are standing. If this joint was unstable you would be unable to stand and be bipedal.
Thank you for joining me again this evening for another great podcast. I hope you enjoyed the discussion on inverse relationship between mobility and stability. As always should you or someone you know require a sugar land chiropractors services or simply have more questions on what was discussed please call Restoration Health today. We would love to schedule you an appointment and get you on the path to better health today. Thank you once again for joining us. Have a good night.ƒ