Movement compensations are a fundamental aspect of human mobility, often occurring without conscious awareness. While they allow us to navigate movement limitations, they can also lead to long-term dysfunction. This post will explore what movement compensations are, why they occur, and how to address them effectively through targeted mobility practices.

What Are Movement Compensations?

A compensatory movement is a habitual adaptation used to achieve functional motor skills when normal movement patterns are unavailable. In simpler terms, we move from areas of ease rather than from areas of difficulty. While this is beneficial for short-term function, over time, compensatory patterns lead to imbalances—some joints become hypermobile (too much movement), while others become hypomobile (restricted movement). Eventually, these imbalances contribute to pain, injury, and diminished movement variability.

Why Do We Compensate?

To effectively address compensations, we must first understand why they happen. There are three primary reasons:

1. Protection of Higher Centers of the Central Nervous System

Our brain prioritizes protecting the head and neck. A simple example is our natural reaction to a fast-approaching object—we instinctively clench our teeth, squint, shrug our shoulders, and raise our hands to guard the face. These deep-rooted reflexes ensure survival but can manifest as chronic compensations, especially during activities that require postural control and stability.

2. Lack of Specific Range of Motion

When the body lacks mobility in a required range, it “finds another way.” Here are common examples of compensatory strategies:

Anterior Pelvic Tilt & Lumbar Extension: This occurs when the hips cannot extend properly during walking, leading to excessive lumbar lordosis.
Foot Turnout & Knock Knees: These compensations work around limited ankle dorsiflexion when squatting.
Great Toe Adduction (Bunion Formation): This happens when dorsiflexion is restricted at the big toe, causing the foot to turn outward and push the big toe inward and across toward the second toe.
Excessive Shoulder Shrugging: When shoulder mobility is compromised when reaching overhead, the body relies on scapular elevation to execute the task.

These compensations are not inherently harmful, but they reduce movement variability, increasing the risk of overuse injuries. Since the body adapts efficiently, many of these patterns go unnoticed until pain or dysfunction arises.

3. Close-Packed Joint Positions

Close-packed positions maximize joint congruency, providing stability without muscular effort. While this passive stability is efficient, it reduces movement variability.

Common close-packed compensations include:

Locking out the knees, elbows, and lumbar spine to create artificial stability.
Maximal shoulder shrugging as a close-packed position of the sternoclavicular joint.

Though these positions offer short-term stability, they limit active control, leading to chronic stiffness and dysfunction.

How to Reduce Movement Compensations

Now that we understand why compensations occur, let’s explore practical strategies to minimize them. The goal of mobility training is not just to improve flexibility but to enhance movement control by increasing awareness of compensatory patterns.

1. Limit Moving Parts

Reducing the number of moving joints during an exercise helps isolate the targeted movement. For example:

Overhead Shoulder Mobility in Tall Kneeling: By kneeling instead of standing, compensations from the lower body are minimized, making it easier to assess and correct movement faults.
Prepositioning the Spine & Hips: Slightly flexing the spine can prevent lumbar extension compensations during overhead movements (e.g., reaching the arms overhead in a Child’s Pose position)

By eliminating unnecessary movement variables, we can better control and refine motor patterns.

2. Decrease the Challenge of the Movement

Training movement should be thought of as a continuum, from assisted exercises to high-speed or high-load movements.

Assisted Repetitions: Providing external support (e.g., holding a pole while squatting) allows for better exploration of restricted ranges. This assistance makes it easier to both identify and correct movement compensations.
Gradual Progression: Once control is established in easier variations, the challenge can be progressively increased by reducing assistance or adding resistance.

3. Add Feedback Mechanisms

Feedback helps individuals become aware of compensatory movements. Incorporating multiple sensory inputs enhances learning:

Visual Feedback: Using a mirror or recording a video to analyze movement patterns.
Auditory Feedback: Receiving verbal cues from a coach or training partner.
Tactile Feedback: Using manual cues or external implements to highlight compensations.

Optimally, mobility drills should provide enough constraints that external feedback becomes unnecessary over time.

Conclusion

Movement compensations are inevitable, but they can be managed with a structured approach to mobility. By understanding why we compensate and using strategies to improve awareness and control, we can enhance movement quality, prevent injuries, and expand our movement variability. Whether your goal is performance enhancement or recovery, recognizing and addressing compensations is a key step toward sustainable, pain-free movement.

Understanding and Addressing Movement Compensations