HYPERMOBILITY

GENEVA

So, let’s talk about hypermobility. First of all, what is it?

What is it?

Hypermobility sounds pretty self explanatory, right? According to the NHS, “people with hypermobility are particularly supple and able to move their limbs into positions others find impossible.” That doesn’t sound too bad, right? But, as always, there’s a problem. With hypermobility, you have stretchy tendons, which can lead to things like easily dislocated joints, joint pain, and recurrent injuries (like sprains). But aside from the literal joint problems, hypermobility can also be accompanied with fatigue, dizziness/fainting, and digestive issues (NHS). So that really doesn’t sound fun. So what causes this?

Why/How does it happen

Generally, people with hypermobility also have some funky collagen stuff going on in their body. Collagen generally functions as a sort of glue for our joints, fibers connecting them together. All of the funky, fun, and fresh symptoms of hypermobile spectrum disorders are because collagen is distributed throughout the body(Castori et al., 2017).

However, certain demographics have a higher probability of having joint hypermobility. Asians are more prone to hypermobility than other races, and women are more prone to hypermobility than men (Versus Arthritis). Additionally, there’s been research that shows a connection between Hypermobility and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and Generalized Anxiety Disorders (GAD) (Nisticò et al., 2022).

So, if hypermobility can be caused by or related to any of these things, how can we fix this?

HOW TO FIX

Well, I actually lied a little bit. We can’t fix hypermobility. What we can do is manage it. For most minor cases, generally, there’s no effect on quality of life. Especially because as people get older, their joints stiffen up, so there’s no need to interfere in many cases. The thing that tends to cause pain is joints going further than they should, and stretching the ligaments and putting the joints in ways and positions that they are not supposed to be able to reach to. So, simply having joints that become stiffer as you age means that eventually, you may no longer be physically hypermobile, even if your collagen is still funky. However, in more extreme cases, where people are actually in pain, the best solution is physical therapy. Physical therapy can help strengthen the muscles surrounding the joints and therefore make it harder for joints to pop out of place.  Muscles encapsulate the joint sockets, so additional muscles can limit the range of motion, making it harder for a hypermobile person to stretch their joints beyond the point they should(i.e. the point that becomes harmful to their joints, which is an easy point to surpass when your muscles can’t tell you where that point is).  There are also other smaller fixes, a good diet, high in collagen, vitamins (I really like glucosamine), braces, etc. But, if it’s bad, unfortunately, this is a condition that you just have to live with.