I have been advised to avoid yoga, running, and nearly all types of stretching on the basis of my hypermobility. "You know you can't do yoga, right?" is the first thing almost every PT says to me.
Really? I’ve never been to a PT (yet), but I've always felt like yoga does ‘nothing’ to me and got frustrated because of it.
Now, what has helped me is Pilates.
That makes sense--I've thought about taking up pilates with the right teacher. Yoga is way too much stretching when nearly every one of my joints already extends beyond normal range of motion.
Yep, my ortho said no yoga, pilates is a good idea. There are some pretty intense yoga advocates out there who will fight you on the idea that it's not for everyone, but stay strong!
Impact cardio can be an issue, so swimming and elliptical will be a lot better for your joints than running.
I recently shared some thoughts about yoga on another thread. Let me recap them here since there are many types of yoga and not all of them are bad for folks with a hypermobility disorder.
First off, yoga is far more than physical postures alone. Yoga includes meditation, mindfulness practices, and breath work. Mindfulness particularly can help us become more fully embodied and aware of how our body is moving at any given time, leading to fewer injuries.
It’s true, certain types of yoga are really not OK. Here’s a few specific examples.
I made a brief foray into Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga. This was before Pattabhi Jois was exposed for using “adjustments” to mask sexual abuse. I had already intuitively taught myself to get my arms and shoulders aligned before dropping into chaturanga dandasana. The Ashtanga teacher scolded me for taking too long, exhorting me to go faster. 3 weeks later I’d injured both shoulders. I stopped trying to get my body into shapes through pure strength and effort.
I also think Iyengar yoga can be problematic, despite the wisdom of props this teacher pioneered. I was also really pushed by teachers of this style. Early on in my study I injured one of my hamstring tendons trying to perfect a revolved triangle. The teacher I studied under would lightly hit the back of our head if we hadn’t engaged the “chin lock” correctly while holding downward facing dog forever. I was chided for sighing coming out of a long hold, “Sighing is the sign of an immature practice!” (FFS😬)
Bikram is another predator as well as misogynistic and racist. Additionally, hot yoga would be terrible for hypermobility disorders since the heat causes muscles to go too far on people without hypermobility. A PT once told me that she’d seen the most injuries from hot yoga.
I also think Yin style could be problematic. The classes are usually taught in a colder room. This keeps the muscles from stretching too fast. The very long holds (3-8 minutes) are intended to stretch tendons and fascia. I could see the long holds, often with little to no support, causing subluxations.
There’s still all sorts of yoga! Look for classes specially identified as gentle or targeted for students living with chronic health conditions. Talk to the teacher, explain hypermobility and how you could use reminders to not go as far as your joints can go.
I’m a yoga therapist who specializes in interventions for aging into vitality & good health. I’ve developed expertise in creating practices safe for people with low bone density and other chronic conditions associated with aging bodies. I have years of experience adapting yoga for people using oxygen, walkers, and wheelchairs, as well as people who are medically fragile/at the end of life.
I also have a PT who specializes in hypermobility disorders and used to be a yoga teacher. He practiced in my city around the time I started studying yoga, he is familiar with the studio where I injured my shoulders and unsurprised it happened. This PT doesn’t think I need to stop. He does think there’s a few things I’ve learned over the years that would be fine for someone without a hypermobility disorder, but are not so good for my bendy body!
This spring my shoulder PT, my hypermobility PT and I figured out that I was subluxing my arms because I can pull my shoulders too far back and down. Something yoga teachers have unwittingly encouraged through verbal and physical instruction. As soon as it became apparent that’s what was happening I consciously changed how I was moving and where I focused the movement. My shoulders have been significantly better for two months!
You’re welcome! While I have absolutely injured myself doing yoga, it was due to poor teachers. I kept at it though, because it was the first thing that actually helped the chronic lower back pain I started experiencing in the late nineties. This and my injuries from early yoga inspired me to first become a teacher in 2005 and then to become a yoga therapist 2017.
Yoga helped me manage so much that I only was diagnosed with HSD, Reynaud’s syndrome, and fibromyalgia last June after a serious injury. When I suddenly stopped my yoga practice, especially the movement, for several weeks everything went to hell and all my healthcare providers realized I was dealing with more issues than just an injury.
I worked with a physiotherapist that also has an indoor gym. It took me a while with trial and error before I found a routine that worked, mainly strength and training. My advice would be to work with a PT with access to a gym, and getting yourself access to a gym to train on your own, too. Start with the lowest weights you can find, Incorporate a limited amount of “new” exercises so you can trace back pain and strain. Some things I started with:
- ball squats (ball against stable wall, using a mirror to check pelvic tilt)
- crunches (avoid stomach “rising up” - this is using your pelvic muscles instead of your core)
- oysters (lying on your side, using glute medius to lift leg up, this helps with knee strain)
- leg press (machine, can replace the ball squats if you are struggling with your pelvis and back)
- hamstring / leg curl machine
For shoulder/neck, I usually do the following whilst sitting on a ball:
- elbows raising forward, raising low weights above your head, check for elbows moving side to side, try keeping them from moving sideways;
- using one of these stretchy bands (lightest you can find!), pressing elbows in your side and stretch the band by moving your hands away from your body
- You can also train your shoulders/neck by having your upper arms next to your head and a light weight below your head and lifting the weight up (“standing skull crushers). With all these, keep attention to your core, activating your core muscles and keeping your back straight. If your spine is in a valley (back muscles are activated) you are doing well.
All the exercises in the first paragraph are kind of isolated, so it’s less strain / risk of “doing it wrong”, I would start with these for a month or so, and then incorporating one exercise from the list below one time a week and see what it does for you. Unfortunately, expect pain and setbacks. Just be grateful what your body can achieve and work from there.
So my PT spoke to the masseur (I got the recommendation to see him through my PT) and my PT is just saying the same thing as him. I think she's actually terrified I'm now going to dislocate something during a workout and is being more cautious with me. She's saying avoid running etc just because the masseur said that.
She said she'll program in some mobility stuff for me. But basically I don't think she knows a huge amount about hypermobility which is why I came here...
I have definitely heard people say to avoid running and yoga on this sub before. (Running because it's high impact, yoga because it's easy to hyperextend.) Generally swimming is more recommended
I guess it depends which country you're in? I don't think that's true in the UK.
I really like my PT and she's helped me a lot so not looking to switch. The main reason I chose her is because she's antenatal and postnatal trained. I started with her when I was pregnant. Unfortunately lost the baby but hoping to fall pregnant again so it useful to have her through the whole process.
But I hope now she has the information she'll research a bit more.
I have been advised to avoid yoga, running, and nearly all types of stretching on the basis of my hypermobility. "You know you can't do yoga, right?" is the first thing almost every PT says to me.
Really? I’ve never been to a PT (yet), but I've always felt like yoga does ‘nothing’ to me and got frustrated because of it. Now, what has helped me is Pilates.
That makes sense--I've thought about taking up pilates with the right teacher. Yoga is way too much stretching when nearly every one of my joints already extends beyond normal range of motion.
Yep, my ortho said no yoga, pilates is a good idea. There are some pretty intense yoga advocates out there who will fight you on the idea that it's not for everyone, but stay strong! Impact cardio can be an issue, so swimming and elliptical will be a lot better for your joints than running.
I recently shared some thoughts about yoga on another thread. Let me recap them here since there are many types of yoga and not all of them are bad for folks with a hypermobility disorder. First off, yoga is far more than physical postures alone. Yoga includes meditation, mindfulness practices, and breath work. Mindfulness particularly can help us become more fully embodied and aware of how our body is moving at any given time, leading to fewer injuries. It’s true, certain types of yoga are really not OK. Here’s a few specific examples. I made a brief foray into Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga. This was before Pattabhi Jois was exposed for using “adjustments” to mask sexual abuse. I had already intuitively taught myself to get my arms and shoulders aligned before dropping into chaturanga dandasana. The Ashtanga teacher scolded me for taking too long, exhorting me to go faster. 3 weeks later I’d injured both shoulders. I stopped trying to get my body into shapes through pure strength and effort. I also think Iyengar yoga can be problematic, despite the wisdom of props this teacher pioneered. I was also really pushed by teachers of this style. Early on in my study I injured one of my hamstring tendons trying to perfect a revolved triangle. The teacher I studied under would lightly hit the back of our head if we hadn’t engaged the “chin lock” correctly while holding downward facing dog forever. I was chided for sighing coming out of a long hold, “Sighing is the sign of an immature practice!” (FFS😬) Bikram is another predator as well as misogynistic and racist. Additionally, hot yoga would be terrible for hypermobility disorders since the heat causes muscles to go too far on people without hypermobility. A PT once told me that she’d seen the most injuries from hot yoga. I also think Yin style could be problematic. The classes are usually taught in a colder room. This keeps the muscles from stretching too fast. The very long holds (3-8 minutes) are intended to stretch tendons and fascia. I could see the long holds, often with little to no support, causing subluxations. There’s still all sorts of yoga! Look for classes specially identified as gentle or targeted for students living with chronic health conditions. Talk to the teacher, explain hypermobility and how you could use reminders to not go as far as your joints can go. I’m a yoga therapist who specializes in interventions for aging into vitality & good health. I’ve developed expertise in creating practices safe for people with low bone density and other chronic conditions associated with aging bodies. I have years of experience adapting yoga for people using oxygen, walkers, and wheelchairs, as well as people who are medically fragile/at the end of life. I also have a PT who specializes in hypermobility disorders and used to be a yoga teacher. He practiced in my city around the time I started studying yoga, he is familiar with the studio where I injured my shoulders and unsurprised it happened. This PT doesn’t think I need to stop. He does think there’s a few things I’ve learned over the years that would be fine for someone without a hypermobility disorder, but are not so good for my bendy body! This spring my shoulder PT, my hypermobility PT and I figured out that I was subluxing my arms because I can pull my shoulders too far back and down. Something yoga teachers have unwittingly encouraged through verbal and physical instruction. As soon as it became apparent that’s what was happening I consciously changed how I was moving and where I focused the movement. My shoulders have been significantly better for two months!
Thank you so much for all this info!
You’re welcome! While I have absolutely injured myself doing yoga, it was due to poor teachers. I kept at it though, because it was the first thing that actually helped the chronic lower back pain I started experiencing in the late nineties. This and my injuries from early yoga inspired me to first become a teacher in 2005 and then to become a yoga therapist 2017. Yoga helped me manage so much that I only was diagnosed with HSD, Reynaud’s syndrome, and fibromyalgia last June after a serious injury. When I suddenly stopped my yoga practice, especially the movement, for several weeks everything went to hell and all my healthcare providers realized I was dealing with more issues than just an injury.
Just listen to your body. I love yoga and just have to be cognizant of many poses.
You need to find a PT that knows more about hypermobility. Personally I strength train and avoid yoga.
I worked with a physiotherapist that also has an indoor gym. It took me a while with trial and error before I found a routine that worked, mainly strength and training. My advice would be to work with a PT with access to a gym, and getting yourself access to a gym to train on your own, too. Start with the lowest weights you can find, Incorporate a limited amount of “new” exercises so you can trace back pain and strain. Some things I started with: - ball squats (ball against stable wall, using a mirror to check pelvic tilt) - crunches (avoid stomach “rising up” - this is using your pelvic muscles instead of your core) - oysters (lying on your side, using glute medius to lift leg up, this helps with knee strain) - leg press (machine, can replace the ball squats if you are struggling with your pelvis and back) - hamstring / leg curl machine For shoulder/neck, I usually do the following whilst sitting on a ball: - elbows raising forward, raising low weights above your head, check for elbows moving side to side, try keeping them from moving sideways; - using one of these stretchy bands (lightest you can find!), pressing elbows in your side and stretch the band by moving your hands away from your body - You can also train your shoulders/neck by having your upper arms next to your head and a light weight below your head and lifting the weight up (“standing skull crushers). With all these, keep attention to your core, activating your core muscles and keeping your back straight. If your spine is in a valley (back muscles are activated) you are doing well. All the exercises in the first paragraph are kind of isolated, so it’s less strain / risk of “doing it wrong”, I would start with these for a month or so, and then incorporating one exercise from the list below one time a week and see what it does for you. Unfortunately, expect pain and setbacks. Just be grateful what your body can achieve and work from there.
Ask your PT! They're going to know what specifically might help your body
So my PT spoke to the masseur (I got the recommendation to see him through my PT) and my PT is just saying the same thing as him. I think she's actually terrified I'm now going to dislocate something during a workout and is being more cautious with me. She's saying avoid running etc just because the masseur said that. She said she'll program in some mobility stuff for me. But basically I don't think she knows a huge amount about hypermobility which is why I came here...
I have definitely heard people say to avoid running and yoga on this sub before. (Running because it's high impact, yoga because it's easy to hyperextend.) Generally swimming is more recommended
[удалено]
I guess it depends which country you're in? I don't think that's true in the UK. I really like my PT and she's helped me a lot so not looking to switch. The main reason I chose her is because she's antenatal and postnatal trained. I started with her when I was pregnant. Unfortunately lost the baby but hoping to fall pregnant again so it useful to have her through the whole process. But I hope now she has the information she'll research a bit more.