Are You Hypermobile?
The following brief summary is excerpted from Hypermobile and Happy. Be sure to read the book to get more detailed information, including source citations.
Why Is Hypermobility A Surprise? If you are hypermobile, chances are that a large percentage of your family and relatives are, too. And, it is likely that you choose activities that you excel in, like dance, yoga, and gymnastics, in which case, most of the people who are participating with you are also hypermobile. You may never have realized that you are special.
What Is Hypermobility? Hypermobile is a fancy term for “very flexible” (hyper means excessive, and mobile means moveable). It can apply to any and every joint in the body, as well as the skin. It also applies to other tissues, but their stretchiness isn’t as readily visible.
In general, flexibility is a good thing for your health and enjoyment of life, but in excess, it can present some problems. There are other causes of hypermobility besides HSD and hEDS, and they may be benign or problematic. Also, the negative symptoms of HSD and hEDS may not manifest in everyone who has inherited hypermobility — and the symptoms may come and go.
Getting a Hypermobility Diagnosis When determining if you are hypermobile, doctors might ask a series of questions about your current and past flexibility, such as, “When in a standing position, could you ever put your hands flat on the ground without bending your knees?”
Physical Therapists (PTs) can do a quick evaluation of the Range of Motion of any joint using a simple angle-measuring ruler called a goniometer, and they can compare that to the known average to determine if you are hypermobile in that joint. A good PT will recognize if an injury or age has reduced the native range of motion of a joint; they might look at other joints to gauge the general natural mobility that is to be expected in your body.
Practical Signs of Flexibility In practical life, your signs of flexibility may be more recognizable. You do not need to be able to say yes to all or any of the signs listed here. HEDS and HSD are diagnosed based on specific measurements of hypermobility that are different from this list. However, this list will help you figure out if hEDS or HSD is something you should consider.
Rather than sitting in a chair with your back straight and feet on the floor, you sit in a variety of “childlike” positions.
You worry and feel anxious frequently, but you are really good in a crisis.
You are very aware of what is around you – smells, lights, sounds, breezes, and vibrations.
You are very graceful when doing a sport or art, but in regular life you’re sometimes a clutz.
Your fingers and/or thumbs bend backwards.
When you are sitting and cross your legs at the knee, you wrap your crossed leg and foot all the way around your supporting leg.
Your fingers lock up sometimes.
If you pinch your skin and pull it away from your body part, it stretches pretty far and then resumes its shape.
You feel slightly strangled when you wear a turtleneck or shirt buttoned up to the neck.
People call you “bendy” or “double jointed.”
You do tasks with your legs and feet that most people do with their hands.
You tend to put yourself into locked positions where one leg or arm traps the other.
When you’re seated with your legs straight out in front of you, your knees and feet roll out to the side.
You can sense when the weather is about to change.
You can point your feet really far.
You can kick really high.
You often notice things going on inside your body like your heartbeat, muscle contractions, breathing, and intestinal movements.
People sometimes laugh at how strange one of your body parts looks when it is hyperextending.
Standing still in a line or at a museum exhibit feels like torture. You cross your legs tightly, wiggle, or crouch down.
You can feel and are sometimes bothered by your jewelry or the tags in your clothes.
You bruise and bleed easily.
Your veins are visible through your thin skin.
Things that touch your skin quickly become temporarily imprinted on your skin.
You feel cold all the time, but you’re also intolerant of high heat.
You can easily do the splits and other stretches or contortions that seem impossible for some people.
There are many other possible signs that you are hypermobile. You may have never paid attention before, or perhaps you thought these little quirks about your body were part of your personality. It is likely that you had more of these quirks when you were younger and that you feel rather stiff now, although you still bend your finger or thumb backwards when you push on a button, for example.
Buy Hypermobile and Happy now to learn more about hypermobility, getting an hEDS/HSD diagnosis, what symptoms can be caused by hypermobility, how to treat symptoms that are caused by hypermobility, and much more!