Many people have a desire to become more flexible and may be surprised that having too much flexibility could be dangerous. This can be the case for someone who is hypermobile (aka “double-jointed”) which is when your joints and muscles move through a greater than average range of motion enabling someone to do things such as palm the floor with ease or bend their thumb backwards to their forearm.

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body — it’s in our joints, tendons, ligaments and other connective tissues where its fibre-like structure gives tissue its rigidity and resistance to stretch. Hypermobile people inherit “looser” and more fragile collagen due to mutations in the genes that code for the types of collagen used in these tissues. Through a combination of “looser” ligaments, low muscle tone and shallow joint sockets, this can lead to unstable joints that are more prone to pain, injury and dislocation.

Not everyone with hypermobility will experience issues but if you are someone who is naturally very flexible with a history of many joint injuries and dislocations, Physio can play a vital role in managing this. Hypermobile people often feel “stiff” and feel the need to stretch to relieve this feeling but it is actually due to the body trying to offer as much stability as possible to protect against excessive motion, but in an inefficient manner. Instead of continuing to excessively stretch, which will further precipitate instability, we can teach your body postural and motor control. This will improve muscle reflexes and reactive timing to create more integrity around a joint which will ultimately help minimise excessive motion and strain during movement. 

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