Hypermobility is a connective tissue disorder characterized by joints that move beyond the typical range of motion, skin hyperextensibility (unusually stretchy skin), and tissue fragility. It can be benign for some but it can also be associated with pain, instability, and other health complications like mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) and POTS. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a group of genetic connective tissue disorders. Sometimes hypermobility is genetic while other times it is not. I had Michelle Shapiro on the podcast for a two-part series on MCAS, POTS, and hypermobility. Don’t miss out on listening to Part 1 and Part 2. If you haven’t listened to those episodes, I highly recommend it! The connection between the trifecta: MCAS, POTS, and hypermobility is our mast cells causing instability in our connective tissue and those with instability in their cervical spine often struggle with POTS.
There is a spectrum of hypermobility, which means there is a spectrum of symptoms. It’s also related to mast cell activation, which can occur in most tissues in the body. Here are a range of symptoms:
Here are some common health concerns that are often present with hypermobility:
It can feel a bit overwhelming when you first get a diagnosis of hypermobility or EDS since it’s hard to find good information on the topic. I had Taylor Goldberg on the podcast to talk more about this and one thing that Taylor talked about that I think is incredibly helpful is flare tracking. This is when you track your flares and become aware of what leads up to them. She doesn’t recommend trying to figure out what caused them when in the flare (this isn’t helpful and can often worsen the flare), but instead just making note of the flare and symptoms. Then after you’ve tracked for about a month you can start to pinpoint different things that can trigger flares for you. From there, you can create a plan of how to support yourself in those moments as well as avoid them as much as possible. There’s a really cool app that Taylor mentioned for flare tracking called Guava that you can find here. It’s completely free and created by two women who have hypermobility. Taylor uses it with her clients and highly recommends it as a tool to help you reduce your flares and feel your best.
You can listen to the podcast episode with Taylor here! If you’re struggling with hypermobility or suspect it, I cannot recommend Taylor’s work enough. You can check out her resources here.
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