Hypermobility and Physiotherapy
If you’ve been told “you’re just flexible”, regularly experience joint pain, instability, subluxations, recurrent injuries or struggle to build strength without aggravating your symptoms, your rehabilitation needs may be different from standard physiotherapy.
Physio for hypermobility isn’t simply about stretching, mobilising or “putting joint’s back into place”. Insted, rehab is focused on helping you develop strength, control, proprioception and confidence required to manage your individual movement patterns.
Your program may include progressive strengthening, joint stability work, proprioception training, movement re-training, graded exposure to exercise and strategies to manage flare-ups and overloading.
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one of 13 different recognised types of EDS which are a group of genetic conditions that affect the body’s connective tissue. hEDS specifically in manifests multiple ways, commonly resulting in joint dislocations, excessive joint range of motion, and poor proprioception.
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Follows the same presentation of hEDS, however HSD does not fit the strict diagnostic criteria for EDS. While different in diagnosis, it is very often managed extremely similarly to someone with hEDS.
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One of the many associations with hypermobility is chronic musculoskeletal pain. This is mostly due to the fact that poor joint control and excessive movement leads to the surrounding muscles and tissues having to work harder to help overcome this hypermobility. This will often result in persistent painful symptoms that is difficult to manage on a daily basis.
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Hypermobility in joints will very often result in re-occuring dislocations or subluxations. Having poor sensory feedback as to where your joints are in space, along with poor connective tissue quality to fixate the joint during movement, allows these events to occur. Sometimes, dislocations are so common that when it happens, there is no pain associated with it.
Common Co-morbidities with hypermobility conditions
Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)
A common debilitating autonomic disorder that can have may causes and presentations. Often mistaken for panic disorder, innapproriate sinus tachycardia, and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Mast Cell Activation Syndome (MCAS)
A condition where white blood cells (mast cells) become overly active, releasing too many chemicals into the body causing severe reactive and allergy-like symptoms.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
About 39% of people with EDS or HSD meet the diagnostic criteria for ASD. Studies show that individuals with EDS are 7.4x more likely to have ASD compared with the general population.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Gut Disorders
People with hEDS experience high rates of IBS and gut motility issues. This is because defective connective tissue changes how the digestive tract moves and senses stretch.