Hypermobility?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hey guys and girls, new to the forum, also relatively new to yoga, so please excuse my ignorance. Finding myself a little bit stuck and unsure of what exactly I ought to be doing, coming from confusing and contradicting advice from most I have consulted (yoga teachers/doctors/physios) After suffering from consistant, seemingly random, and perplexing injuries as well as constant back pain for most of my adult life I found yoga to be my absolute savior. The increased body awareness, increased understanding of my own anatomy as well as the knowledge of asanas and breathing excercises has for the first time in my life empowered me to deal with what was becoming debilitating pain for me.

Although I have always had weird over mobility in some of my joints I never really thought of having any hypermobility disorders because I am so incredibly unflexible in other areas. After consulting a physio I was recomended to avoiding any excercises that take over flexible joints out of their neutral positions and attempt to strenghthen these joints by performing simple weight bearing excercises while the joint is fixed and taped. (I have been doing this for about 2 weeks now). Is there any verdict on whether or not yoga is beneficial for hypermobility?

As a more specific question, the joints giving me the most concern are my wrists which have always been able to move far beyond there range of motion with no pain whatsoever. Does anyone have any ideas on a better way to strengthan the wrists and ideally eventually being able to restore a more natural stability to the joint? In the meantime I have stopped doing any poses in which I bear weight on an outstretched palm as I was directly advised against this by my physio.

thanks

#2

I had weak joints especially in shoulder i did weight training and when i took a pause the shoulder problem came back like it was going out of the joint easy and no stability.

After i started yoga problem went away and now pause or not does not matter. Joints are now strong. It was like the strong muscles did the work and the weaker got more weak.

#3

Hi bibalong,

Hypermobilty can be a joint specific issue or it can affect multiple joints, so it’s not surprising you have hypermobility in your wrists but are a bit inflexible in other areas. It’s a gentic thing so you may find someone in your family also have hypermobile wrists. As for your question “Is there a verdict on whether or not yoga is beneficial for hypermobility?” As a therapist I would highly recommend caution in any poses that either require alot of strength or flexibility of the affected joint. I would stick to taped and fixed exercsies for your wrist for now. The reason is that with any degree of hypermobility you are at higher risk of injury, simply because the joint is a little unstable. It will be important for you, just in life in general, but especially if you want to continue with yoga that you keep the musculature surrounding your wrist strong- to prevent injury. Joints that are hypermobile are also at higher risk of osteoarthritis, so again having strong muscles surrounding the wrist will be important for you to prevent this. Any asanas that weight bearins on the palms of the hands (especially like a handstand) must be progressed very very slowly. I would follow the advice of your physio and find a very experienced yoga instructor. Make sure you communicate your uniqueness to him or her and hopefully they will have some experience here and can guide you along without injury. Most of all, yoga can teach you to listen to your body if you’re open to it so let your body be your guide too.
Oh another note would be to keep ALL supporting areas strong- arms, shoulders and even into the neck and core too. That way when you’re ready to do weight bearing on flat palms the rest of your body is strong and can assist where needed. I see many students who when they attempt any asana that requires weight bearing on the hands they tend to “dump” all their weight into the hands because of weak core stability or a shoulder weakness. There are many asanas that can help with strength without placing any stress on the wrists at all- I would commit to doing those consistently and again progress with the wrist very very slowly, under guidance, when you are ready.
I hope this helps.

#4

Thanks for the replys, I guess it is just going to have to be a patience thing for me now. I am trying to listen to my body, indeed something i never been at all good at for most of my life and am only just starting to understand the value of this… I will dance on the day I can start doing downward dog again =)

With regard to asanas that can help maintain upperbody strength without placing pressure on the wrists, are there any poses you might be able to recomend me trying? I have been erring on the side of caution up to this point and just avoiding almost all forms of upper body load bearing but do feel like I am missing a significant chunk of my practice.

#5

Relative to your question in paragraph 2 …

No appropriate (read: alignment-based) asana practice takes over-flexible joints out of their neutral position. In fact it is just the opposite - an alignment-based practice actually focuses on the integrity of the bones and joints relative to one another. Fixing the joint and taping it are done within the asana practice via actions which facilitate the alignment. This is usually imparted to the student as a result of direct observation by a skilled (alignment-based) teacher.

Ergo the “verdict” … an appropriate asana practice is not only okay for hypermobile bodies, it is necessary - assuming one is going to practice at all.

With regard to paragraph 3 … stability in the joint comes from learning appropriate muscle action and breaking through or dispensing with rote or habitual patterns. The added mobility in the wrists should not be at issue when you are taught not to collapse into that joint AND when you are working in an alignment-based practice. Though I’d have to actually see what you are referring to. Point is, do the poses correctly, have proper guidance to do so, and stay focused on the action which will teach your body to maintain integrity rather than flop into old ways.

#6

Hi inner athelete,
I realise that the yoga asanas if alignment is adhered to correctly will not take over flexible joints out of place, however, especially when new to it, certain poses do seem to require a level of joint stability and strenght for such alignnment to be achieved. That potentially certain progressive asanas exist that might prepare overflexible joints for the full pose. My question was to as to there were any good known ways to developing wrist strength and stability aiming towards the goal of being able to do the pose correctly.

An example in my situation would be downward do, at this point I simply cannot have my palms flat on the ground bearing any of my weight without the joint coming out of place. I am practicing a modified version at the moment where I grip two yoga blocks in order to activate the muscles in my forearm astabilising the joint more as well as reducing the angle which my palms are flexed.

#7

For me this sounds like a therapeutic issue and therefore it’s not particularly sound to attempt to address it via this medium. I assume from your current level of sharing that your wrist is out of joint in all poses which require weight-bearing on the hands?

If so I’d suggest doing the poses with support and seeking direction on actions to build the requisite strength.

Is your current yoga teacher unable or unwilling to guide you in such ways?

#8

I see, not unwilling, but i am unable to afford private lessons and therefore the attention i recieve is limited naturally. Most just recomend avoiding all such poses altogether until it gets better, which is what I am sticking to, just a patience thing meanwhile following physio advice on how to strenghten the muscles. Not looking for specific rehabilitation advice here to my case but am just raising the question because I thought this sort of issue could be quite common amongst many yoga practioners and find out if there were any recomended approaches which I was not aware of.

#9

I have had hypermobile students but I have not seen the wrist collapse you’ve described. In most cases said student is able to learn actions in order to prevent such issues, though I admit most have said “I’m trying” as an indicator its quite a challenge for them.

For an extreme case I would lean toward supported postures so that the effects can be garnered without the damage.

As for the myriad of advice, I like variety and praise the pursuit of that which may be helpful (for you). That has to be tempered otherwise too many cooks spoil the stew and the incoming info does not fit together thereby creating confusion - which is not at all helpful.

I don’t believe I mentioned private instruction but that is a fine idea. It would, for most, be “fine” to locate a skilled alignment-oriented teacher for drop-in group classes. But this has become harder and harder to do. One can be a “yoga teacher” in 20 hours so buyer beware.

#10

Just a thought, but poses which incorporate your wrist usually would have to bear your entire weight. Maybe doing some poses against the wall with minimal pressure that doesn’t hyper flex your wrist would be helpful. I’m comparing this to something like pull ups for body builders. Frequently a beginning body builder just doesn’t have the strength to pull up his/her entire body weight so using a chair to cheat helps avoid straining all the joints. Maybe leaning against the wall with your hands as if you are doing downward dog would be helpful. The further away from the wall, the more pressure on the wrist. Again, just a thought.