I feel like most of my patients lie in one of two camps: they’re either stiff as a board (think of a huge bodybuilder who can’t fully lift their arms above their head), or they are “loosey goosey” (like the person who can do the splits without even trying). If you fall into the latter camp, listen up, because this blog is for you!
Hypermobility is the medical term that refers to people who are naturally flexible, or double-jointed. (You can take this test to confirm hypermobility.) While being hypermobile can make for good party tricks (like human pretzels), it can at times be harmful to overall health. Hypermobile people often struggle with joint dislocations, and can even have autoimmune-like symptoms. Plus hypermobile people constantly feel tight. So they stretch and stretch, but that feeling of tightness never goes away. What gives!?
Well our bodies like homeostasis, or the state of being balanced. So in an ideal world, we would all be perfectly strong and perfectly flexible. But as I wrote above, people tend to fall on one side of the spectrum. Since the body is constantly seeking that middle ground, if a joint feels too loose, the brain will signal for the muscles around the joint to tighten up! So then you end up with a feeling of tightness. But when you go to stretch it out, your body again feels too loose and your muscles reflexively tighten up. It can be a vicious cycle!
Once I explain this cycle to my hypermobile patients, they begin to understand that stretching is not always the solution to feeling tight. However, the next questions I get are “Well can I ever stretch? Or am I not allowed to??” When we’re dealing with the human body, there are always nuances so I never like to say never. But if you’re hypermobile and therefore more prone to your joints popping out of place, you do need to keep a few things in mind while you’re stretching:
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Do not push into your end-range.
End-range is a term used to describe the farthest that you can go into a stretch. It’s different for everybody but for hypermobile people, it’s usually quite far! Pushing really deep into a stretch can cause stress on the ligaments and joints, which will then cause that tightening that I talked about above. So if you err on the flexible side, you may need to rein yourself in. That in itself can be tough because hypermobile people will not usually feel a stretch unless they are at their end-range. So just know that you may not always need to feel it in order to be getting a good stretch.
2. Use active rather than passive stretches.
This is a big one for hypermobility. Because hypermobile people do not always feel the stretch, holding a stretch with the intention of going deeper and deeper can backfire (remember how I said stretching too much can cause stress on the joints?). I find that active stretches, where you move into and out of a stretch, can be a better strategy. Try this one:
Half kneeling hip flexor and adductor rocking stretch
3. Pay attention to your posture.
Something I often notice when hypermobile people stretch is that they excessively arch their back. This can put undue stress on the spine and what’s more, it will take away from stretching the muscle that you are actually trying to stretch. So when you are stretching, make sure that you aren’t straining your back. This can also be true of other joints so try not to lock out your elbows or knees during stretches either!
4. Make sure you can breathe.
When it comes to hypermobile people and stretching, we definitely do not want to have a “no pain, no gain” mindset. Like I mentioned above, stretching may not feel like much to you, which is very normal if you are overly flexible. You do not need to push into pain to get a stretch – in fact, that goes against what I wrote in #1 above – we don’t want to be cranking into a stretch! So take it easy
5. Finally, you can stretch, but make sure to strengthen too!
I typically recommend that my hypermobile patients focus on strengthening as that will help build the necessary muscular support around the joints and help your joints feel more stable so that they will be less likely to tighten up in the first place. While stretches may feel good in the moment, they never truly solve the problem for a hypermobile person. Building strength is what does help you feel better long-term.
So if you’re pretty flexible but you constantly feel tight, try applying these rules to your stretch routine and see if you feel better! And if you do have aches and pains, or even if you just want more guidance on safe ways to exercise, feel free to reach out as we’d love to help!
