What is Hypermobility?
Many athletes have used hypermobility or increased flexibility to execute seemingly superhuman physical accomplishments. But in many cases, hypermobile joints, on the other hand, can cause clumsiness, pain, and recurring injury in some persons.
Should hypermobility be something you celebrate or something you worry about?
While there are some instances in which hypermobility is only a minor component of a larger problem.
Hypermobile people have joints that stretch beyond the range of a normal person. Softer-than-normal collagen - the tissue that creates our tendons and ligaments - causes hypermobility. This suggests that a person with hypermobile joints has less stiff ligaments that stretch more easily.
How Can Hypermobility Affect Health?
People who are hypermobile have trouble finding efficient neutral resting postures for their joints and maintaining stability when moving, which can be problematic when lifting a big weight or performing forceful actions like throwing or jumping.
Our body's organization of muscles, tendons, and ligaments is designed to control movement in specific ranges and directions. Our ligaments provide us with proprioception, or awareness of our body's position in space. It's why you can precisely place your limbs while they're not visible.
Failure of the proprioception system can result in ligament tension or tear, such as when you twist your ankle while jogging or twist your knee.
Hypermobile people's ligament stretchiness and range of motion might complicate their proprioception, which means their muscles don't respond as quickly or precisely to ligament stretching, raising the risk of injury.
Proprioception can be affected further by pain, edema, and scar tissue associated with ligament and joint injuries, increasing the likelihood of future injuries. Serious or recurring ligament or joint injuries can result in diminished muscle strength around the affected joint as a result of inactivity caused by a person being in too much pain to move.
A lack of strength makes someone more prone to be injured, which can lead to a vicious cycle of re-injury and inactivity in a hypermobile person.
Poor proprioception can also make it difficult to hold one position for an extended period of time, such as standing or sitting at a desk, which can lead to people with hypermobility adopting mechanically inefficient positions for their muscles, which can lead to tightness, soreness, and pain.
This pain can cause muscle weakness, making it difficult to hold a position for an extended period of time.
Should People with Hypermobility Avoid Certain Activities?
Despite all of the positive and negative points, the vast majority of persons with hypermobile joints do not need to limit their activities. In fact, staying active is critical for maintaining muscular strength and joint proprioception, which improves joint control and prevents injury.
If you are hypermobile and experience pain or joint instability while exercising, it is critical that you work with a physiotherapist who is aware of your condition. They can examine your specific problem areas and recommend workouts to address them, eventually putting you on track to meet your fitness and lifestyle objectives.
Physiotherapy Treatment for Hypermobility:
Because of instability in the shoulders, knees, and ankles, hypermobility can increase the risk of injury during activities such as lifting weights, hopping, and jumping. If you wish to improve your stability, don't engage in strenuous physical activity or follow unsupervised workout instructions. Consult a physiotherapist they will design the exercise program specific to your requirement within the safer limit.
Physiotherapists will teach you to manage your joints properly, as it can necessitate very gradual and exact training, which is significantly safer when supervised by a medical specialist.
When you are stronger and have good control of your hypermobile joints, hypermobility can deliver improved flexibility with very few drawbacks and plenty of benefits. Hypermobility does not have to be an issue if you train the right muscles and advance your strength and movement to ensure you have the control to match your increased flexibility.
If your hypermobile joints are bothering you, or if you're nervous about trying new or intensive exercise, arrange an appointment with me immediately by calling +91-882-621-5518 or emailing contact@elitephysiotherapy.in. We are also available to answer questions at www.elitephysiotherapy.in.