Hypermobile Syndrome Support Group

I give myself a few days off between strenuously exercising any muscle group, and I probably should take almost a week off every few months. It's hard to know what your pain is like, but if it is increasing during the exercise or building up after sessions, you probably need to change your routine. Nutrition and sleep affect it all, too.

lots of info out there on exercise and stretching specific to HMS. Mostly in UK & AU. most of the techniques are specific to kids and young adults to help prevent injury.

At 52, my body is already trashed and any movement is painful. the cost of the pain involved with exercise far exceeds the benefit incurred. Utilizing the bouyancy of water helps lower the pain cost, if you have access...

However, stretching actually releaves pain and stimulates healing, sinovial fluid uptake and transport, etc. And, I can do it on my comfy (sort of) bed.

Fredboy can you recommend any reading material about exercise or stretching for hypermobility? I'm mid 20s and I don't experience any pain (yet!) and I'd like to be able to stretch and strengthen my body before it gets to the point of pain.

I'm very physically active which I think helps but I'm finding that sometimes I'm stiff after exercising and I'm not sure how to actually stretch out already stretchy joints/muscles so I end up not stretching them at all.

here are a few suggestions on what i do. 1) cardio and toning every other day. i work out 6 days a week. saturday is my day off. so 3 days i do cardio (just 15-20 minutes. nothing too strenuous. although im maintaining now, when i was trying to lose weight i was doing 30-45) and then do my toning 3 days a week. 2) when it comes to cardio, try to do things that you arent exerting yourself too much, but get your heart rate up. like walking, hula hooping, lightly bouncing or jogging on a mini trampoline, etc. 3) my doctor started me on creatine supplements. now, you have to take it every other month, but it helps build muscle around the joints so they arent bending backward as much. 4) try to stick to things like pilates and yoga. they will help a ton! modify them to fit your body needs and so you arent popping out joints.

Hypermobility Syndrome: Diagnosis and Management for Physiotherapists

There's also a new book about Ehlers Danlos Syndrome by Brad Tinkle. I'm guessing that it mentions exercise.

I keep hearing that many hypermobile people benefit from yoga and pilates. One of my doctors recommends isometric exercises, of which yoga and pilates seem to have a similar effect. Sorry - I don't have any knowledge about how a hypermobile person is supposed to stretch out if stiff. Exercise doesn't make me stiff.

I've only recently been diagnosed with hypermobility, but have been trying different exercise, for years to relieve pain and the feel of instability. I loved yoga, especially Bikram's hot yoga. But I didn't know where neutral was (still figuring that out) and I would hang out at full hyperextension, which felt stable. The yoga instructors thought it was great how flexible I was and I ended up having a lot of knee pain and really didn't gain much strength.

I've been doing tons of reading and read somewhere yoga wasn't good, because you could hurt yourself since the focus is on flexibility and not strength. Now that I know more about what is "normal", I may do yoga again. But I will be focusing on finding neutral and going for strength before flexibility.

I highly recommend doing Pilates. I was having really bad back and neck pain, hand and wrist pain and numbness, dropping things because of sudden jolt with wrong move. I was really getting worried, my doctor was no help. I did some physical therapy with a pilates based physical therapy program, which focuses on stabilization strengthening. When I am able to do the pilates about an 20 minutes to an hour a day, I feel as pain free as I get. The back pain is gone and so was the numbness, 1/2 the neck pain and most of the wrist pain. However if I don't keep a regular routine, it starts coming back.

I am really glad to have stumbled on this site. It has helped reading other who have similar experiences.

Hi,I'm new to this support group. I have been with the TMJ support group for a year now. I have Hypermobile joints and used to do alot of yoga but that made my back even more unstable so I had to give it up and now do pilates 3 times a week. I find if I do too much exercise my muscles all flare up, so I need to rest every second day and that helps.

I know working out is difficult but also soooo helpful! Maybe you can try using bands instead of weights so you can use your body's own resistance and try riding a bike instead for cardio- it is not as hard on the knees and you will get the same result!:) Hope this helps! Good luck and stay healthy!