What is hypermobility?

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]May is hypermobility awareness month.

[00:00:03]So, in honor of that, I am answering common questions I get from my hypermobile patients. So, my name is Nicole Harju. I am a physical therapist, and I have been specializing in hypermobility, EDS, POTS, and all the other acronyms that go along with it for over a decade. So, to get things started, let's talk about what hypermobility is.

[00:00:24]Hypermobility is when joints are too loose or too bendy. So, people may say, "Oh, I'm double-jointed.

[00:00:31]I'm really bendy." Those types of phrases usually mean that they're hypermobile. It's just that we didn't have words for them in the '60s and before then. So, what happens when you're hypermobile is that your tendons and ligaments are stretched out. So, if you imagine a rubber band, instead of having nice, taut rubber band, the rubber band's really stretched out, and it doesn't have enough elasticity to hold things in place.

[00:00:53]So, for any of you out there that that sounds great, that you're so stiff and you'd love to be bendy and be able to touch the floor and everything like that, yes, hypermobility can be great in some circumstances and can be really beneficial for dancers and gymnasts until it's not, until it's a real pain, pun intended. So, when you're too hypermobile, things can start to hurt, muscles can hurt, your joints can sublux, which is partially go out of the place, or they can fully dislocate, which can cause tears and obviously much more pain.

[00:01:25]So, it's really important to understand what hypermobility is, cuz if you have it, you can get treatment for it, and physical therapy is a great place to start, and it's good to know what you're dealing with. I hope that helps. If you have questions about hypermobility and you want to know more, leave a question in the comments, and stay tuned for more questions to be answered.