The Zebrastrong Blog

Estimated reading time: 6 minutesHave you been told to exercise to help manage your EDS or HSD? Perhaps you have been given no instruction on how to exercise with this condition. Or perhaps you’ve been told to just do pilates or go swimming. Or maybe you’ve been sent to a physical therapist who doesn’t understand hypermobility and makes things worse?

Estimated reading time: 6 minutesWe know feeling tight is a common experience in hypermobility. When we have looser joints, our muscles often tighten up to try and stabilize. It can feel good at the time to stretch them. We must remember that our muscles are tight for a reason.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutesWe all consume food and exist in a world where opinion and advice on diet is freely shared. The public is pleased to share tips. Family wishes to impart wisdom. Professional patients keen to share their n=1. Healthcare professionals sometimes slide out of scope to offer recommendations. And no more so than in the niche arena of Hypermobility & Ehlers-Danlos syndromes.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutesI know it can be a common thing in hypermobility and it is very painful. It can make us anxious about exercising as we fear a subluxation.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutesWhilst much of the discussion around hypermobility and EDS focuses on movement, a common source of anxiety, frustration and stress for those living with such conditions comes from the other half of our lives – sleep.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutesAlmost every client I’ve worked with has problems with their shoulders. 4 in 5 people with symptomatic hypermobility have shoulder problems (1). Even in the general (not necessarily hypermobile) population, it is the most commonly dislocated joint in the body (2).

Estimated reading time: 9 minutesCan we ever really be prepared for a flare-up? And when they arrive, how do we manage them? They can be as unpredictable as the rain. You dress for the sun and a sudden downpour arrives. Sometimes we definitely know rain is coming and we can pack an umbrella but sometimes rain, like a flare-up, can appear when the sky seemed so blue. We just weren’t expecting it.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutesI always start at the feet.

The foot needs to be stable and mobile at the same time for good foot mechanics. It is super important to understand the relationship between the foot and the rest of the body. The foot will impact the knee, hip, lower back, and upwards from there. Even asymptomatic hypermobile feet and ankles can contribute to pain all the way up the body (1).

Estimated reading time: 5 minutesCoat hanger pain is a pain in the neck and upper back, specifically the suboccipital and paracervical regions. It has been described as a “charley horse” kind of sensation in the back of the neck and shoulders. This pattern mimics the shape of a coat hanger with the hook in the neck and the body spreading out across the upper trapezius muscles and shoulders.