The mobility gap: what most people miss about aging well 

The mobility gap: what most people miss about aging well 

How to assess mobility, key biomarkers to test and 3 expert strategies for staying mobile in your 40s and beyond

Mobility doesn’t tend to get the same attention as heart health, weight management or even sleep. Yet, it quietly underpins them all. It influences how easily you move through your day, how independent you remain as you age and how resilient your body is to injury, illness and decline. 

In many ways, mobility is one of the major differentiating factors between living longer and living well. It’s why it’s part of the Movement pillar of Medcan’s Vital Five – our proactive health framework that highlights key areas to focus on to avoid disease and stay healthy for life. (Learn more here.) 

Your ability to remain mobile also doesn’t disappear overnight. Mobility changes gradually, often without notice, beginning as early as midlife. As early as your 40s, muscle mass begins to decline, joints stiffen, balance becomes less reliable, and reaction time slows. While these changes are common, they are not inevitable. 

According to Medcan Clinical Director of Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation, Dr. Andrew Miners, “What’s often misunderstood is that mobility loss is less about aging and more about underuse.”  

As movement declines, so does the body’s capacity to move well. Strength fades, coordination dulls and flexibility narrows, reinforcing a cycle that can accelerate decline.

“Mobility isn’t just something to think about as you get older. The earlier you learn to care for your body – not just from a strength or cardio perspective, as many do, but through mobility – the better you’ll feel now and, in the future.”

In this article, Dr. Miners shares how to test your mobility to see where you stand, plus ways to be proactive early on, to avoid major issues later in life. 

“A consistent focus on balancing regular movement time – such as walking, climbing stairs and standing – with sedentary time – like focused time at a desk, commuting or enjoying a tv show – is important to help maintain baseline function.”  

To support healthy aging, strength training also needs to be a component of an activity routine. “Resistance work, to some degree, is more important as you age - not less - for both men and women,” explains Dr. Miners. 

How to gain an understanding of how mobile you are 

If you’ve done Medcan’s Annual Health Assessment – our comprehensive full-body checkup that looks at 100+ biomarkers to support early detection and prevention of major health issues – you’ll be familiar with the anthropometric (body composition), cardiorespiratory and muscle and joint tests we do to gather insight into your physical fitness level. 

You may also be surprised to know that the blood draws taken during your assessment offer important insights into your mobility. 

During the Annual Health Assessment, we review the following evaluations that provide critical insights into different aspects of your mobility. 

• InBody scan – body composition + measurements: in just minutes, the InBody machine allows us to measure body fat, muscle mass, and other key body metrics like your levels of hydration to help us assess your level of fitness, risk for chronic disease and physical changes over time. It can tell us whether your body has the muscle to support movement and whether excess weight may be working against it. Muscle / fat distribution is linked to multiple health areas, including heart health and metabolism. 
• Muscle and joint / functional movement assessment: our fitness specialists take you through a series of movements to evaluate your strength, flexibility and movement quality. This helps us identify risk areas and discover how well your body moves – and where you may experience future issues. During this evaluation, our fitness consultant may note areas of strength and weakness.  
• Ankle Brachial Index (ABI): a simple, non-invasive test that compares blood pressure in your ankle to blood pressure in your arm. This measurement allows us to understand the rate and consistency of blood flow in your body, checking for hardening and narrowing of peripheral arteries. If blood can’t reach your legs efficiently, your ability to move  – especially over time or distance – is compromised. This is also linked to heart health and demonstrates where these two pillars of our Vital Five model (Heart, Movement) are intertwined. 
• Cardiovascular fitness test: completed via treadmill or stationary bike, VO₂ sub‑max assesses aerobic fitness and oxygen uptake. Even if your joints and muscles are strong, you won’t move well for long if your heart and lungs can’t keep up. 
• Grip strength: a simple but powerful indicator of overall muscle strength and physical function. It’s often used in clinical and research settings because it reflects not just hand strength but is an indirect indicator of the health of the entire musculoskeletal system. Lower grip strength has been associated with reduced muscle mass (sarcopenia), higher risk of chronic disease (including cardiovascular disease), greater likelihood of frailty and functional decline. If overall strength is low, mobility is usually affected too. Learn more here. 
• Additionally, the blood panel you do during your Annual Health Assessment can offer a lot of insight about mobility. Here are some of the blood-based biomarkers we test for and the information they provide in relation to mobility:  
• hs-CRP (high sensitivity C-reactive protein): higher levels can signal chronic inflammation, which is linked to muscle loss, joint stiffness and reduced mobility. 
• Vitamin D: supports muscle strength and bone health, helping prevent weakness, falls and fractures. 
• Creatinine: reflects muscle mass levels, with lower values potentially indicating reduced muscle needed for movement and strength. 
• Hemoglobin / Iron (ferritin): essential for delivering oxygen to muscles, with low levels leading to fatigue and reduced endurance. 
• Blood glucose / HbA1c: poor control can impair muscle function and nerve health, affecting strength, balance and coordination. 
• Creatine kinase (CK): indicates muscle stress or damage, helping identify when muscles aren’t recovering properly. 
• Electrolytes (magnesium, potassium): supports muscle contraction and nerve signaling, with imbalances leading to weakness or cramps. 

Starting with a baseline evaluation is essential for understanding where you are today and what you need to improve to help you move well as you age. No two bodies are the same, and the way you move reflects your history – whether that’s long hours at a desk leading to tight hips and limited mobility, years in competitive sports, or time spent doing a physically demanding job that places repeated stress on certain joints and muscles.  

Some people, even as early as their 30s or younger, may already be managing underlying issues, such as hip or knee limitations, that affect how they move. That’s why assessing your current mobility at any age is important. It provides a clear picture of your strengths, limitations, and risk areas, and helps guide a more personalized plan to maintain and improve how you move over time. 

According to Medcan’s Clinical Director of Annual Health Assessment, Dr. Daiva Barnicke,"One of the key goals of an Annual Health Assessment is the early detection of health issues and potential risks. Assessing mobility can reveal important opportunities for intervention before problems become more significant.”

Dr. Barnicke explains, “Many individuals benefit from recommendations to address pain, injuries, or movement limitations identified during the assessment. Taking action early can help maintain independence, improve daily function, and enhance long-term quality of life." 

At Medcan, we look at mobility in the context of your overall health and wellbeing – so we can guide you to the actions that can help you avoid serious issues as you age. That said, there are still a few high-level strategies everyone can adopt to proactively manage their mobility.  

3 practical ways to be proactive and protect your mobility 

1. Focus on a multi-component exercise regime 

Research shows that mobility remains strong and improves with a multi-component exercise protocol that includes strength, balance, range of motion and aerobic activity in one training regime. 

“People often double down on one area – typically cardio or stretching – and overlook the importance of strength training, which most people need to focus much more on and resting,” says Dr. Miners. “Balance and range of motion are also just as important, and they’re often the missing pieces.”  

Different systems contribute to mobility in different ways: 

• Strength → force production 
• Balance → stability 
• Cardio → endurance 
• Mobility work → joint range 

Dr. Miners says a good fitness protocol that balances areas of fitness might look like: 

• Strength (2–3x/week): builds the power needed for movement 
• Cardio (2–3x/week): supports endurance and overall health 
• Balance (2–3x/week, often layered in): improves stability and reduces fall risk 
• Mobility (daily or near-daily touchpoints): maintains joint range and quality of movement 

These are not and certainly don't need to be unique or separate exercise sessions. Engaging in complex movement that is completed on our feet, uses more than one part of your body, with some resistance, and with an increased tempo can actually impact all four areas simultaneously. “For example, a squat or lunge movement while holding hand weights or a medicine ball and concurrently doing a coordinated arm movement is great,” says Dr. Miners. 

Ultimately, the above is a guide, and your fitness training routine depends on your goals and current level of fitness. For support developing a customized routine that meets your needs, Medcan provides Personalized Fitness Training programs. Learn more here. 

2. Balance recovery with workouts 

When you push too hard without allowing your body to recover, or ignore pain signals, you can start to experience early mobility issues. Here’s what’s common: 

• Stiffness and reduced range of motion: overworked muscles tighten, making it harder to move freely 
• Altered movement patterns: you unconsciously compensate to avoid discomfort, which can impact other parts of your body 
• Decreased performance: fatigue reduces strength, balance and coordination 
• Higher risk of minor injuries: strains, tendon irritation or joint discomfort become more likely 

If this pattern continues, the effects can compound: 

• Chronic tightness or imbalance: Muscles that are consistently overtrained (or never properly recovered) can become progressively weaker and more impaired 
• Injury cycles: Small issues that aren’t addressed can turn into more significant injuries over time 
• Joint stress and wear: Poor movement mechanics place excessive or too much load on joints like the hips, knees and lower back 
• Declining mobility and function: Over time, this can limit how well you walk, bend, lift or maintain balance. 

Make sure your workout routine has recovery time built in. Recovery is very important. Focus on ways to care and heal the body such as intentional downtime, mobility exercises, massage, use of heat and cold.   

Additionally, for those with greater issues, medical support such as injections for pain management or orthotics can be active as critical supports to keep your moving, mobility intact and avoid major issues and surgeries later in life. These may be provided as part of a comprehensive treatment plan. 

3. Reframe pain and stiffness – and embrace a proactive mindset 

Many people accept aches, stiffness, or reduced range of motion as a normal part of life or aging. When we’re young, we often think the body will repair itself and we’ll be fine. When we’re old, it’s easy to say it’s just part of getting older. In both these cases, mobility and your ability to move are not being taken as seriously as it should be. 

“Managing pain or injury starts with the right mindset. Pain doesn’t always mean damage, and in many cases, movement is an essential part of recovery. The key is to take a proactive approach – focusing on managing symptoms, supporting healing and preventing future issues. When you’re unsure, working with a qualified professional can help you understand what to do, how to do it safely and what to expect along the way” explains Dr. Miners.  

“Because sustaining good mobility is a lifelong endeavor, the habits you build in your 40s, 50s, (your whole life) shape how you move in your 60s and beyond.”  

Waiting until mobility becomes a problem makes it harder to regain. Starting earlier helps preserve function, manage injury risk, and maintain independence longer. 

In many cases, pain reflects underlying issues such as weakness, imbalance, or inefficient movement patterns. Addressing these root causes through targeted mobility work and strength training can lead to meaningful improvements. Ignoring them, on the other hand, often leads to further limitations. 

This is particularly relevant as more people shift their focus toward longevity. Living longer is one goal. Maintaining the ability to move freely within those years is another, and arguably the more meaningful one. 

Take action 

Mobility is one of the clearest indicators of how well we age. It shapes independence, confidence, and overall health more than most people realize. The encouraging reality is that it’s highly modifiable. Even small, consistent changes can improve how the body moves and feels over time. 

A strong place to start is with a comprehensive baseline. Medcan’s Annual Health Assessment evaluates mobility alongside broader fitness and health markers, while also screening for risk across Medcan’s Vital Five – Heart, Cancer, Metabolic, Mind, and Movement. Guided by a physician with same-day results and an in-depth physician consultation, this assessment allows you to gain a clearer picture of where you stand today and what strategies you can focus on to enjoy a healthier future. Explore this comprehensive whole-body assessment. 

From there, Medcan offers personalized support across the continuum of care. This includes tailored fitness training, as well as specialized mobility and physical support through our Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation services which include both physician-led support and comprehensive paramedical services – all through an integrated lens centered on addressing your pain, mobility issues, or other movement-related concerns. Whether it’s pain management, targeted exercise programs, or medical interventions such as injections or orthotics, the goal is the same: to help you maintain strength, function, and the ability to fully participate in life - on your own terms, for as long as possible. Learn more here. 

This article was written by Medcan's editorial team with review and contribution Medcan's Clinical Director of Sports Therapy, Rehabilitation and Fitness, Dr. Andrew Miners.
Note: This information is intended for educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 

Note: This information is intended for educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.