Hypermobility
Have you ever been praised for your flexibility? Maybe you’ve been told you’re double-jointed? But… your muscles still feel tight and sometimes painful, you sprain your ankles all the time, and there's a joint that feels like you “just need to crack it” about 100 times a day and the relief only lasts a couple minutes… You might be hypermobile!
The term “hypermobility” refers to more movement in a joint than the normal range. Hypermobility is a spectrum, and some people that are hypermobile don’t have any associated pain or symptoms. Other people may have a whole list of symptoms related to their hypermobility, some of which include:
Chronic sprains, subluxations or dislocations
Thin or stretchy skin
Joint and muscle pain and stiffness
Poor balance
Instability
Excessive fatigue
This is by no means an exhaustive list of signs and symptoms, and this post is simply for educational and chatting purposes (not meant for diagnosing or providing medical advice). So, I urge you to speak to a health care professional about any health concerns you may have.
With that said, one of the ways to screen for hypermobility is called the Beighton Scale. It’s basically a checklist of specific movements, with a higher score indicating more flexibility. While it’s not a stand alone test, a score of 4 or more out of 9 is indicative of some hypermobility and often one of the criteria for the diagnosis of connective tissue disorders like Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.
I haven’t been formally diagnosed with any connective tissue disorders, but I do check a lot of the boxes of signs and symptoms, including a 9 out of 9 on the Beighton. Unfortunately, I am also not one of the hypermobile humans that is pain or symptom free. But I would like to share some of the things that have helped my hypermobile body move better, become more stable, and experience less pain. Some of these I learned in PT school, and some I learned through trial and error.
I started working a ton on stability; core stability, shoulder stability, neck stability, knee stability, etc. This has been a huge game changer. My warm up before any workout session includes stability work. Sometimes my entire lifting session is stability work. Either way, I make sure to get a little bit in every day. Stability work has honestly been life changing for me. As someone who has struggled with neck pain and headaches for years, finding something that makes lasting positive changes is huge.
Speaking of warm-ups. I also include what I like to refer to as “activation exercises.” For example, I find that I sometimes have a really hard time feeling work in my quads. So, if I'm doing leg day, I do some leg extensions or leg lifts (leg extension and hip flexion together - hello rectus femoris!). I try to do about a set of 10, or until I really start feeling work in the muscles I’m targeting.
I shifted the focus of my mobility training and stopped training past the range that I could control. I still do a lot of mobility work, but the millisecond I feel like my form starts to deteriorate, I stop at that range. This was very humbling.
As a hypermobile human, I’m quite passionate about this topic. I hope that if you relate to any of what I wrote about, you can find some comfort that you aren’t alone and also maybe some ideas of how to manage your symptoms or pain better!
Claire Kenny