Rethinking Shoulder Mobility: Why Your Hips (and Core) Might Be the Missing Link

When most people think of mobility training, they imagine stretching a tight muscle or doing isolated joint work. Stiff shoulder? Stretch it. Locked-up hips? Hit some deep lunges. But what if I told you that the research says that real mobility training goes far beyond what’s happening in just your joints or muscles?

Mobility isn’t just about flexibility—it’s about movement quality, integration, and communication across the entire body. And that means looking at the whole system, not just the symptom.

At Fitness Lying Down, Cory Cripe is helping us show how we build better shoulder mobility and it starts with looking at everything that looks with the shoulder.

 

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It’s All Connected

Here’s the thing: the body doesn’t work in isolated pieces, something we have discussed so much in our blogs. It moves as an integrated unit. So when one area is tight or restricted, you can bet other areas are going to be affected.

This is especially true when we look at the relationship between the shoulders, hips, and core. Several studies have shown a consistent relationship between hip flexibility and shoulder mobility and strength, not just in athletes, but in the general population too.

As research from Joseph et al. (2014), Laudner et al. (2015), Robb et al. (2010), and others has shown, there’s a clear link between hip joint flexibility and shoulder range of motion and torque production. In other words, if your hips aren’t moving well, your shoulders might not stand a chance.

Why? Because movement happens from the ground up. Our bodies rely on a chain of muscular and fascial connections, from the feet to the head, that communicate and coordinate with each other. So what’s happening at your hips can have a huge impact on how your shoulders function.

The Fascial Connection

One of the most overlooked players in shoulder health is fascia, the web of connective tissue that wraps around muscles, joints, and organs, creating continuous chains of tension and movement throughout the body.

Take the thoracolumbar fascia, for example. This massive sheet of connective tissue across your lower back links your hips and core to your upper body. In a fascinating study titled The Clinical Efficacy of Thoracolumbar Fascia Release for Shoulder Pain, researchers found that releasing tension in this area—nowhere near the shoulder—significantly reduced shoulder pain.

And it doesn’t stop there.

Another recent study found that diaphragmatic breathing improved shoulder pain and mobility in individuals with frozen shoulder. Not stretching, not foam rolling, breathing. When you consider how the diaphragm connects through the core and into the fascial chains, this starts to make a lot of sense. Breathing well helps stabilize the spine and ribcage, setting the stage for more effective and pain-free shoulder movement.

 

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In our Myofascial Integrated Movement programs like Coach Lauren Penton shows, we combine breath work with movement to increase the effectiveness of both!

How We Combine All The Best Parts Of Shoulder Mobility At Once

Instead of isolating one joint or muscle, Myofascial Integetraed Movement (MIM) takes a whole-body approach focusing on the chains that really impact the movement and performance of the shoulder. We use purposeful movement patterns that engage the hips, core, and shoulders togethere, driven by breath and ground-based forces. This not only creates more mobility where you need it but also reinforces strength and stability where it matters most.

So if you’ve been stretching your shoulders without much relief, it might be time to look lower. Are your hips stiff? Is your core firing correctly? Are you breathing well? These are the real questions that unlock lasting mobility improvements.

Smarter Mobility = Better Results

We’ve seen time and time again that approaching mobility in an integrated way yields better, longer-lasting results. It’s not about working harder, it’s about working smarter because we understand how the body functions and what actually limits your shoulder mobility.

That’s the goal of our MIM system: to help clients build a more resilient body by focusing on how we move, not just where we feel pain or restriction. MIM exercises work on a neurological level too reducing pain sensitivity which also allows to improve our mobility faster and in more impactful ways.

So next time your shoulders are feeling tight, don’t just reach for a band or spend 10 minutes on the foam roller or trying to stretch out your shoulder. Think about how your whole body works, not just what you feel in one area, that is what causes people to keep chasing their mobility in circles. Mobility training isn’t just about stretching, it’s about connecting the dots like strength coach, Matt Durant shows below…

This week we are offering 35% off our MIM program because we want people to really experience how impactful these methods can be to improving not only their fitness, but their overall quality of life. Use code “mim35” HERE, you can also save on our Mobility Balls with code “usb15” HERE (no, you don’t need to have our Mobility Balls to perform MIM drills)

 

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