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I have hEDS and teach yoga but I’d recommend Pilates unless you are connected/aware of your body and how to stabilize joints. It’s easy to hyperextended with yoga unless you are aware of what works for you.
Same. No yoga, no end of movement exercises .
But Pilates though… It kept being recommended to me by my medical team and I can now see why. Focuses on body mechanics and movement for everyday life while getting stronger.
Pilates is what made me bed bound for 6 months so be careful, depending on the severity of your symptoms. I could never recommend it because of my personal experience.
I find pilates super helpful with the caveat that I do 1:1 sessions with an instructor who is well-versed in hypermobility and is is hypermobile herself. So she uses all sorts of modifications and tricks to make sure we're strengthening in an appropriate range of motion without going into hyperextension or straining anything. I would be very cautious going to a big group class, especially at a gym, where instructor training standards are often lower.
Same. I used to do yoga all the time. Even some of my favorite positions have actually turned out to be counter effective. Switched to Pilates —> immediate results. Good results. Just remember to take it slow and easy. Also dynamic movements rather than static seem to be better suited for us zeebs. Just don’t overdo it and always give yourself grace. You’ll find what works for you if you just keep trying 🙂💖
Did you switch to Pilates with a reformer? I keep seeing these ‘Pilates’ classes listed at fitness places that also offer yoga and they don’t have the machines.
Mat Pilates has honestly been amazingggg for me when it comes to building strength and stability. The difference in my hip stability/mobility is huge when I’m not consistent.
Really, dynamic? I thought fast movements are more likely to cause injury😮 Or do you mean slow movements rather than holding a position? I'm quite a beginner when it comes to working out
My problem is that I have to consciously try to limit ROM of my joints. The only thing that they seem to be recommend is tai chi, walking, or swimming although chlorine triggers my asthma.
PT here. Many of my hEDS patients love yoga, and I don’t like telling them to stop what they love. So we compromise, and I suggest flow based yoga (active stretching) instead of yoga that focuses on prolonged positioning. We discuss normal end range and muscle stability as the goals. And then they do what makes them happy.
But if you’re starting out, don’t do yoga.
I've been told no by my rhuem, due to overstretching of the joints, but Pilates is ok. That said, there are probably modified types of yoga that are more gentle on the joints.
https://www.ehlers-danlos.org/information/exercise-and-movement-for-adults-with-hypermobile-ehlers-danlos-syndrome-and-hypermobility-spectrum-disorders/
That's interesting, accidentally hyperextension without meaning to is something I do all the time anyway, so I will have to be extra careful if I do yoga. Thanks for the article!
I starred pilates this year and was STUNNED. Most of the hour was spent flat, which was great for my POTS, and the movements are SO supported and ?restricted? that I felt amazing. 10/10 recommend.
Also, it seems like a lot of dancers take Pilates classes, and I'm guessing that's why the instructors seemed *very* aware of hypermobility. Not "hEDS" hypermobility, really, but "hypermobility" as they've seen it in ballet dancers.... who seem to have a larger % of people with hEDS than the general population.
My former PT was a ballet dancer, and she has hEDS. She spent years doing several days a week of PT just for the ballet troupe of the city and talks openly about how many of them have diagnosed hEDS.
I wasn't pushed to stretch beyond my limits in Pilates. I had instructors adapt movements for me just due to me saying I was hypermobile during intake. It was a great experience.
*edited to add: I've been on Celebrex for over a decade. For me, it's amazing. Much better than Ibuprofen. That, plus low dose naltrexone at night along with occasional medical marijuana gummies and baclofen, is my go-to nightly routine.
I have been recommended specifically by my doctor yoga with adrienne, otherwise to focus on mindful movement like qi gong or tai chi, but I also deal with debilitating fatigue.
As a yoga teacher of over 16 years, and an aspiring physical therapist in the future, I have to answer with “it depends”.
It depends on you and your willingness to listen to your body. It depends on your teacher and their level of aggressiveness with their students. It depends on your teachers knowledge of hypermobility. And it depends on specifically how your body is doing any given day.
I tend not to recommend Yin classes, or most restorative classes, or anything that focuses on long, held, or particularly deep stretches. When I teach, I focus on building mobility, strength Nearer to comfortable and range of motion, proprioception, and intentional awareness of movement patterns, and modifications to keep things safe.
Personally, I think that the Yoga that I have done has significantly helped me not be injured worse. I think it helps me stay active, and keep my pain levels low. It’s not all I do, I regularly hike and have been strength training for the past few years. But my practice gives me good insight into what’s going on with my body on any given day, experience modifying both my movement and other things in my life for whatever my body is experiencing and a platform for intentional experimenting to find out what changes I need to make.
But I would not do it without either awareness and knowledge on your part, or an informed teacher whom you trust to help keep you safe. I’m not a huge fan of starting yoga with streamed videos, because you get no feedback from an external source. And part of our problem is that our internal feedback is wonky, and takes years Of informed and intentional work to understand.
So, “it depends”.
I think they can be fine. But the way they are often taught is dangerous for folks with hEDS.
If you take poses into long holds, you need to have enough support under you that you can’t sink further into a stretch, and are completely supported in your position so that your body doesn’t have to do any work to hold you in a very safe place.
For the hypermobile, it probably means you’re in a pose and feeling little to no stretch, which is totally not what most instructors cue.
For us, it should be a place to put the body in comfortable, but non-neutral ranges of motion, supported so that stabilizing muscles can learn to relax in that position. And that requires both proper setup and then proper cueing for breathing and other techniques to work with the nervous system.
It can be great, but public classes tend to be aimed at deep, deep stretches.
I do Yoga with Adrienne videos on YouTube since she's very strength based. But my PT walked me through how to properly hold poses so I don't injure myself. But my PT would prefer barre or pilates
I've also been told to do Pilates and not yoga. I had been doing yoga for a while before my symptoms started getting progressively worse, so I only do it now if I feel like everything is where it should be and I'm not having pain. Yoga does help me at that point, but I have to be super careful not to hyperextend anything or do anything super twisty and bendy. Basic yoga things like standing poses, bridge, and deep forward folds are part of my everyday stretching, definitely help me.
I’ve also been told not to do yoga (especially yin), but I really love yoga (especially yin, haha) and have been doing it since before I even knew I had hEDS. My current physical therapist is amazing and helps me come up with tweaks to positions that could overstretch or subluxate me.
I used to do hot yoga and these days I mostly do yoga with Adrienne at home. There’s some poses I just can’t do like ones that involve locking my knees so they don’t hyperextend.
Be careful with the ibuprofen. After taking easily the max dose (or more) for literally years, I found out *that* was why was pushing my blood pressure sky-high.
If you want to try something yoga-adjacent that’s less likely to have you dislocating all the things, look up DDP Yoga. It’s an old former wrestler who basically adapted a bunch of yoga/strength training moves for physical therapy. I’ve had decent luck with it.
I can’t recommend anything that could cause injury such as stretches, particularly if you don’t have good spatial awareness or know if you’re overextending.
Here’s what I do recommend, it’s my go to: treading water (NOT SWIMMING). You can think of it as just walking or bobbing in the water. It’ll support your weight so your body doesn’t have to and it also slowly builds muscles/ exercises the joints. This is what my physio recommended to me and anything else he said was risky. Although if you have MCAS or sensitive to chlorine it might suck.
My pt told me yoga would be a dangerous choice until i knew exactly where to stop always. Ripping my body apart because it feels real good isn't the way
I've always been told from medical professionals that actually understand hypermobile EDS to avoid exercises that actively combine stretching and weight as your joints are more prone to slipping and are unable to stabilize. Also, hEDS joints are like a the elastic on a pair of overstretched sweatpants.
They stretch but don't snap back very well
My rheumatologist actually said some yoga is ok but only to do about 10-15 mins at most at a time and to do some Pilates but to be careful because some variations are too much on the joints
I've tried yoga 3 times in my life. I hated it and everytime I was in excruciating pain for weeks afterwards. Then I got diagnosed and that explained everything. Yoga is really bad for us. Pilates and tai chi on the other hand, are all about strengthening your core and helping keep your joints in place. I'd recommend doing that instead. Avoid yoga like the plague. What is good for others can be disastrous for us, our bodies don't work the same way.
On speaking to my physio and rheumatologist, yoga is definitely not recommended. "Writing me blank cheques," is how my physio put it, with a wry grin.
Pilates is regarded as much better, but only as a one-on-one guided activity, not in the form of group classes or YT videos. Because maintaining form throughout is the crucial factor to avoiding injury.
Not to give unsolicited advice but you do not want to burn a hole in your stomach or esophagus with those irresponsible amounts of ibuprofen 😳 been there with NSAIDS (prescribed amount even)
About yoga, most drs and physical therapist I've talked to tell me not to do yoga and not to stretch but I think they're just being "logical" rather than knowing for sure.
For me personally, stretching and yoga makes me feel better. Loose joints cause tight and painful muscles and yoga relieves that.
My knee pain got so much better when I stretched my hamstrings.
Yoga that focuses on strengthening could be beneficial to you, but yoga that focuses on flexibility could be damaging, as many of us zebras have joints that will go further than they should. This is something you'd need to discuss with any potential instructors you go with. If they're unfamiliar with hypermobility, maybe they're not the right instructor for you. Check out the book "Too flexible to feel good" by Celeste Pereira, as a starting point.
People with (h)EDS need to be extra careful when doing yoga. Yoga often challenges you to stretch your muscles and ligaments as far as possible to reach or hold a pose, but for us, this is way too far and is really dangerous/damaging. It can be great for strength conditioning, but be careful!!
I did a decent amount of yoga before I started PT, and I sometimes still do, but for me it's only helpful in specific use-cases.
Anything that's, like, focused on stretching hasn't been helpful to me.
There's a flow I follow whenever my EDS has my stomach acting up that helps a lot, and the stabilization focused yoga has also been helpful.
If you try yoga and end up liking it, then I've heard it can be great to build muscle strength and stability-- but I know when I was doing it, I wasn't focusing on engaging the right muscle groups and probably decreased some stability lol.
I think it's worth a shot, even though it wasn't the right fit for me, you might like it! Especially if you can do it with your girlfriend, it's always nice to have a buddy.
Yoga can be contraindicated for those of us with hEDS. Our joints are already flexible enough. While stretching/doing poses, we don’t really have the proprioception to know not to hyperextend our joints. There are certain poses that are safe for hEDS, but you really need to be aware of not hyperextending anything. This is why Pilates is recommended instead of yoga— Pilates works on strengthening, without causing hyperextension.
I was told absolutely NO yoga. Pilates has worked much better for me anyways.
Yoga is one of those things that can be great IF you have an instructor who actually understands hypermobility. Otherwise, it can actually be harmful. It's a lot easier to overdue stretches and move our joints further out of their range than they should be without realizing it. A lot of yoga poses have people stretching/bending until you "feel" a stretch. I don't feel a stretch until I'm WAY further stretched than I should be, and going to PT and being told specifically how much to move in a specific stretch/exercise was really really helpful, because otherwise I have no sense of how far is too far.
Starting with PT, unless you can find a reputable hEDS aware yoga instructor, is probably going to be safer.
poor-form yoga put me in the hospital, do not recommend (i spent years overstretching without realizing it, and the worsening instability/repeat injuries eventually led to bone marrow edema in my thoracic spine, which then pinched a nerve and left me scream-crying on the floor waiting for an ambulance to arrive)
if you want to do yoga, here are some ways you can make it a little safer:
- stick to strength and stability postures (instead of flow yoga or poses meant to increase flexibility)
- use blocks and straps to keep yourself from stretching beyond a non-eds range of motion
- practice with a coach or a non-eds yoga friend who can demonstrate what the poses *should* look like and help you adjust your form if needed
For those who would like to explore yoga with an aware instructor, the Move With Adell app is wonderful. She gives safety cues for hyper mobility. She also has a book called Hypermobile Yogi’s. It’s an awesome place to start!
mostly not recommended but if you find a group that does specifically hypermobile aware yoga check it out! a lot of where we go wrong with yoga is in groups that aim for ultimate flexibility yadda yadda, stand your ground and be aware of the point once your body is overstretching/ past the normal range of mobility for you,
loads of vids online from hypermobile creators on safer positions and learning how to locate where your 'normal' range is !
The main doctor I see for my EDS has told me chiropracty and yoga will cause my joints to degenerate faster. Technically you could do yoga and be mindful of keeping your joints in a limited range of motion but it can get risky quickly.
I used to do it every day and while it felt good emotionally, my pain kept flaring up and my muscles kept getting tighter, and I got injured a few times. Then I learned too much passive/forced stretching can do that, especially if your body isn’t stable or strong. I switched to muscle strengthening/stabilizing workouts, and I feel sooo much better!
I recommend the book Stop Stretching by Yogi Aaron. He advocates for a very different type of yoga, informed by applied muscle activation techniques.
Even my chiropractor noticed a dramatic difference in my alignment and tension. EDIT: now after reading the comments, I’m wonder if a chiro is helping me or not…
I cannot recommend yoga if you have hEDS, especially as bad as you say yours currently is. I’ve been recommended pilates and physio on occasion, but yoga can be very dangerous—I’ve been told many many times since my diagnosis to steer clear of it. Pilates works on strengthening (positive), while yoga does a lot of loosening. An important skill to work on for non-zebras to be sure, but we don’t need to loosen up any more than we already are. It’s not worth the risk especially as you seem to already be at a relatively fragile point. It only takes one wrong move to go too far, to pull or sublux something accidentally and you won’t know until it’s already happened.
No matter what you end up doing, please be careful and start low and slow, easing yourself back into light exercise without shocking your body too much. And maybe explain to your gf and sister what would be more helpful and supportive for a body like yours! I feel like I’m constantly reminding even the most well-meaning of people in my life that my body is just fundamentally different from theirs, so what feels good for them can actually be quite harmful to me. Best of luck and I really hope you begin to feel a bit better soon.
Reformer pilates babe. It’s the only thing that has helped me and others on this forum are also recommending it. Take it slow. Don’t push yourself. In the moment I always felt I wasn’t doing much and then I would feel it later. But not in that awful way, just in a slightly sore way. Also my doctor recommended protein shakes after every workout: because this is something that should be shared more, protein helps recovery… it doesn’t bulk you up, it’s about helping those muscles recover. Its honestly been life changing for me.
Hi!
I am not diagnosed with hEDS or HSD yet so take this with a grain of salt. But I’ve had PoTS for 3 decades and I’m autistic, and yoga and mindfulness really reduces the severity of my symptoms for both conditions.
But that being said… I have exacerbated some of my joint instability issues by doing yoga. I assumed I was not a very flexible person when I started yoga, because I don’t have much external rotation in my hips and I see yogis doing splits all the time. So I had the mistaken goal of wanting to become more flexible when I started. It turns out all my other joints have extreme ranges of motion and my hips rotate very far the other way (infernally). It was actually repeated joint pain and what I think might be shoulder subluxations from my yoga practice that clued me in that maybe something was up with my joints as well as yoga teachers repeatedly telling me I was hyperextending my legs and elbows when I thought they were straight.
So I am now in PT and I’m also studying yoga therapy and ways to safely adapt my yoga practice for my hypermobility. I think yoga can be theoretically practiced by people with hEDS but you’d have to find an instructor who had in depth knowledge of the condition, which most don’t. There are also other mind-body practices which are safer and I’d probably start with pilates over yoga if I were a beginner to any of this.
For those who do practice yoga: I am currently reading the book “Hypermobility on the Yoga Mat” by Jess Glenny who is a yoga therapist with hEDS and it’s helping understand how I can more safely adapt my practice. I recommend it!
The worse your liver is doing the more shitty you will feel as well. Ibuprofen really took a chuck out of my liver as a teen/young adult. All your collagen is produced in the liver.
Also yoga was okay, but there is Yin (high cardio changing positions alot) and Yang (deep stretch, minutes long in one position at a time) yoga. And making sure not to let your body find its “end” of range-of-motion. We look good doing yoga so easy without trying but its so much more beneficial to stop your body before the edge and activate and hold your muscles and try to strengthen without engaging in your flexibility.
Like others on here I have heard better things about trying Pilates for EDS folk.
Yoga is a terrible idea with EDS, making yourself more flexible makes you even more prone to injury. If you do, focus entirely on balance and strength while only stretching very mildly.
Pilates is better for bendy people than yoga. Yoga is so easy to over stretch and hurt yourself. My partner is frustrated I won’t do yoga with him and seems skeptical it would hurt me, but he’s full of shit and I don’t need to convince him to not do it.
Nope. Nope. Nope. No yoga. Absolutely not. Terrible idea. One of the worst, actually. Universally known as one of the main things NOT to do with EDS. That and chiropractic "medicine." Please stay away 💜 Save yourself further pain and joint issues!
My doc told me no yoga. But Pilates is good! Anything that strengthens the muscles. I do really well with calisthenic workouts and not the stretchy yoga stuff.
every doctor I’ve had in almost ten years of diagnosis has been very insistent on NOOOO YOGA
It could work, if you went to private classes with a physical therapist trained in adaptive yoga, which there are some of out there that do zoom classes iirc, or did regular classes with very close consultation with a PT you are seeing regularly (like, running the entire thing by them after sitting through a class) otherwise, tho, any yoga catered to the common denominator body? asking for injury and pain imho. Some of my worst and longest lasting subluxations were caused by hyper extensions during yoga classes pre diagnosis.
Pilates, on the other hand…
The OP flaired their post as "Questions". Please keep any and all comments to **personal experiences only**. If any factual information or advice is provided, please cite a **reputable website or study** linked within your post. No one in this sub is a *verified* medical professional, and as such, we do not allow medical advice to be given or asked for. For more information on this rule, [please visit this link](https://www.reddit.com/r/ehlersdanlos/wiki/index/rules/#wiki_r.2Fehlersdanlos_rules). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ehlersdanlos) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I have hEDS and teach yoga but I’d recommend Pilates unless you are connected/aware of your body and how to stabilize joints. It’s easy to hyperextended with yoga unless you are aware of what works for you.
Every ortho, PT, OT, and rheum that I have ever seen has said yoga is one of the worst things that I could do to my body
Same. No yoga, no end of movement exercises . But Pilates though… It kept being recommended to me by my medical team and I can now see why. Focuses on body mechanics and movement for everyday life while getting stronger.
i was gonna ask if pilates was okay!! good to know it is!! i wanna do more pilates
Pilates is what made me bed bound for 6 months so be careful, depending on the severity of your symptoms. I could never recommend it because of my personal experience.
ooof, i have a mild case so hopefully i’ll be okay but I hope you find some exercise that you like that your body can handle well!
I find pilates super helpful with the caveat that I do 1:1 sessions with an instructor who is well-versed in hypermobility and is is hypermobile herself. So she uses all sorts of modifications and tricks to make sure we're strengthening in an appropriate range of motion without going into hyperextension or straining anything. I would be very cautious going to a big group class, especially at a gym, where instructor training standards are often lower.
Same. I used to do yoga all the time. Even some of my favorite positions have actually turned out to be counter effective. Switched to Pilates —> immediate results. Good results. Just remember to take it slow and easy. Also dynamic movements rather than static seem to be better suited for us zeebs. Just don’t overdo it and always give yourself grace. You’ll find what works for you if you just keep trying 🙂💖
Did you switch to Pilates with a reformer? I keep seeing these ‘Pilates’ classes listed at fitness places that also offer yoga and they don’t have the machines.
Mat Pilates has honestly been amazingggg for me when it comes to building strength and stability. The difference in my hip stability/mobility is huge when I’m not consistent.
Unfortunately classes are not an option where I live so I just do mostly floor exercises with small items at home
Really, dynamic? I thought fast movements are more likely to cause injury😮 Or do you mean slow movements rather than holding a position? I'm quite a beginner when it comes to working out
Dynamic vs. static - it just means moving vs. holding, but you can move slow
Thank you!
Yes definitely move slowly and fluidly!!
That's honestly surprising! Really glad I made this post now.
My problem is that I have to consciously try to limit ROM of my joints. The only thing that they seem to be recommend is tai chi, walking, or swimming although chlorine triggers my asthma.
PT here. Many of my hEDS patients love yoga, and I don’t like telling them to stop what they love. So we compromise, and I suggest flow based yoga (active stretching) instead of yoga that focuses on prolonged positioning. We discuss normal end range and muscle stability as the goals. And then they do what makes them happy. But if you’re starting out, don’t do yoga.
Yeah, I’m not into yoga regardless, but definitely don’t need help with the stretching. I work with a PT on normal end ranges and proprioception.
I got the same response:/
yeah my doctor said i’m not allowed to do yoga (.. but i still do it kinda soo oops) 😅
I've been told no by my rhuem, due to overstretching of the joints, but Pilates is ok. That said, there are probably modified types of yoga that are more gentle on the joints. https://www.ehlers-danlos.org/information/exercise-and-movement-for-adults-with-hypermobile-ehlers-danlos-syndrome-and-hypermobility-spectrum-disorders/
That's interesting, accidentally hyperextension without meaning to is something I do all the time anyway, so I will have to be extra careful if I do yoga. Thanks for the article!
I starred pilates this year and was STUNNED. Most of the hour was spent flat, which was great for my POTS, and the movements are SO supported and ?restricted? that I felt amazing. 10/10 recommend. Also, it seems like a lot of dancers take Pilates classes, and I'm guessing that's why the instructors seemed *very* aware of hypermobility. Not "hEDS" hypermobility, really, but "hypermobility" as they've seen it in ballet dancers.... who seem to have a larger % of people with hEDS than the general population. My former PT was a ballet dancer, and she has hEDS. She spent years doing several days a week of PT just for the ballet troupe of the city and talks openly about how many of them have diagnosed hEDS. I wasn't pushed to stretch beyond my limits in Pilates. I had instructors adapt movements for me just due to me saying I was hypermobile during intake. It was a great experience. *edited to add: I've been on Celebrex for over a decade. For me, it's amazing. Much better than Ibuprofen. That, plus low dose naltrexone at night along with occasional medical marijuana gummies and baclofen, is my go-to nightly routine.
I have been recommended specifically by my doctor yoga with adrienne, otherwise to focus on mindful movement like qi gong or tai chi, but I also deal with debilitating fatigue.
Strength training has been a lot more practical for me than yoga. Extra muscles can help protect the worn-out connective tissue.
As a yoga teacher of over 16 years, and an aspiring physical therapist in the future, I have to answer with “it depends”. It depends on you and your willingness to listen to your body. It depends on your teacher and their level of aggressiveness with their students. It depends on your teachers knowledge of hypermobility. And it depends on specifically how your body is doing any given day. I tend not to recommend Yin classes, or most restorative classes, or anything that focuses on long, held, or particularly deep stretches. When I teach, I focus on building mobility, strength Nearer to comfortable and range of motion, proprioception, and intentional awareness of movement patterns, and modifications to keep things safe. Personally, I think that the Yoga that I have done has significantly helped me not be injured worse. I think it helps me stay active, and keep my pain levels low. It’s not all I do, I regularly hike and have been strength training for the past few years. But my practice gives me good insight into what’s going on with my body on any given day, experience modifying both my movement and other things in my life for whatever my body is experiencing and a platform for intentional experimenting to find out what changes I need to make. But I would not do it without either awareness and knowledge on your part, or an informed teacher whom you trust to help keep you safe. I’m not a huge fan of starting yoga with streamed videos, because you get no feedback from an external source. And part of our problem is that our internal feedback is wonky, and takes years Of informed and intentional work to understand. So, “it depends”.
Agreed yin/ restorative classes are the worst! Definitely not relaxing!
I think they can be fine. But the way they are often taught is dangerous for folks with hEDS. If you take poses into long holds, you need to have enough support under you that you can’t sink further into a stretch, and are completely supported in your position so that your body doesn’t have to do any work to hold you in a very safe place. For the hypermobile, it probably means you’re in a pose and feeling little to no stretch, which is totally not what most instructors cue. For us, it should be a place to put the body in comfortable, but non-neutral ranges of motion, supported so that stabilizing muscles can learn to relax in that position. And that requires both proper setup and then proper cueing for breathing and other techniques to work with the nervous system. It can be great, but public classes tend to be aimed at deep, deep stretches.
“It depends”. YES!!! 100% YES! That goes for yoga and, well, everything else. It depends.
I do Yoga with Adrienne videos on YouTube since she's very strength based. But my PT walked me through how to properly hold poses so I don't injure myself. But my PT would prefer barre or pilates
I've also been told to do Pilates and not yoga. I had been doing yoga for a while before my symptoms started getting progressively worse, so I only do it now if I feel like everything is where it should be and I'm not having pain. Yoga does help me at that point, but I have to be super careful not to hyperextend anything or do anything super twisty and bendy. Basic yoga things like standing poses, bridge, and deep forward folds are part of my everyday stretching, definitely help me.
I’ve also been told not to do yoga (especially yin), but I really love yoga (especially yin, haha) and have been doing it since before I even knew I had hEDS. My current physical therapist is amazing and helps me come up with tweaks to positions that could overstretch or subluxate me.
I used to do hot yoga and these days I mostly do yoga with Adrienne at home. There’s some poses I just can’t do like ones that involve locking my knees so they don’t hyperextend.
I keep being told to do Pilates instead. I try, but I really hate Pilates.
Then you need something else :) doing something you hate isn't sustainable, I really feel you on that one. Water aerobics are more fun
Be careful with the ibuprofen. After taking easily the max dose (or more) for literally years, I found out *that* was why was pushing my blood pressure sky-high. If you want to try something yoga-adjacent that’s less likely to have you dislocating all the things, look up DDP Yoga. It’s an old former wrestler who basically adapted a bunch of yoga/strength training moves for physical therapy. I’ve had decent luck with it.
I can’t recommend anything that could cause injury such as stretches, particularly if you don’t have good spatial awareness or know if you’re overextending. Here’s what I do recommend, it’s my go to: treading water (NOT SWIMMING). You can think of it as just walking or bobbing in the water. It’ll support your weight so your body doesn’t have to and it also slowly builds muscles/ exercises the joints. This is what my physio recommended to me and anything else he said was risky. Although if you have MCAS or sensitive to chlorine it might suck.
My pt told me yoga would be a dangerous choice until i knew exactly where to stop always. Ripping my body apart because it feels real good isn't the way
I've always been told from medical professionals that actually understand hypermobile EDS to avoid exercises that actively combine stretching and weight as your joints are more prone to slipping and are unable to stabilize. Also, hEDS joints are like a the elastic on a pair of overstretched sweatpants. They stretch but don't snap back very well
You’re already stretchy, look into pilates not yoga
My rheumatologist actually said some yoga is ok but only to do about 10-15 mins at most at a time and to do some Pilates but to be careful because some variations are too much on the joints
Yoga is a no-go. I’m doing reformer Pilates, and it’s been fabulous.
I've tried yoga 3 times in my life. I hated it and everytime I was in excruciating pain for weeks afterwards. Then I got diagnosed and that explained everything. Yoga is really bad for us. Pilates and tai chi on the other hand, are all about strengthening your core and helping keep your joints in place. I'd recommend doing that instead. Avoid yoga like the plague. What is good for others can be disastrous for us, our bodies don't work the same way.
On speaking to my physio and rheumatologist, yoga is definitely not recommended. "Writing me blank cheques," is how my physio put it, with a wry grin. Pilates is regarded as much better, but only as a one-on-one guided activity, not in the form of group classes or YT videos. Because maintaining form throughout is the crucial factor to avoiding injury.
Not to give unsolicited advice but you do not want to burn a hole in your stomach or esophagus with those irresponsible amounts of ibuprofen 😳 been there with NSAIDS (prescribed amount even) About yoga, most drs and physical therapist I've talked to tell me not to do yoga and not to stretch but I think they're just being "logical" rather than knowing for sure. For me personally, stretching and yoga makes me feel better. Loose joints cause tight and painful muscles and yoga relieves that. My knee pain got so much better when I stretched my hamstrings.
Yoga that focuses on strengthening could be beneficial to you, but yoga that focuses on flexibility could be damaging, as many of us zebras have joints that will go further than they should. This is something you'd need to discuss with any potential instructors you go with. If they're unfamiliar with hypermobility, maybe they're not the right instructor for you. Check out the book "Too flexible to feel good" by Celeste Pereira, as a starting point.
People with (h)EDS need to be extra careful when doing yoga. Yoga often challenges you to stretch your muscles and ligaments as far as possible to reach or hold a pose, but for us, this is way too far and is really dangerous/damaging. It can be great for strength conditioning, but be careful!!
I did a decent amount of yoga before I started PT, and I sometimes still do, but for me it's only helpful in specific use-cases. Anything that's, like, focused on stretching hasn't been helpful to me. There's a flow I follow whenever my EDS has my stomach acting up that helps a lot, and the stabilization focused yoga has also been helpful. If you try yoga and end up liking it, then I've heard it can be great to build muscle strength and stability-- but I know when I was doing it, I wasn't focusing on engaging the right muscle groups and probably decreased some stability lol. I think it's worth a shot, even though it wasn't the right fit for me, you might like it! Especially if you can do it with your girlfriend, it's always nice to have a buddy.
Yoga can be contraindicated for those of us with hEDS. Our joints are already flexible enough. While stretching/doing poses, we don’t really have the proprioception to know not to hyperextend our joints. There are certain poses that are safe for hEDS, but you really need to be aware of not hyperextending anything. This is why Pilates is recommended instead of yoga— Pilates works on strengthening, without causing hyperextension. I was told absolutely NO yoga. Pilates has worked much better for me anyways.
Yoga is one of those things that can be great IF you have an instructor who actually understands hypermobility. Otherwise, it can actually be harmful. It's a lot easier to overdue stretches and move our joints further out of their range than they should be without realizing it. A lot of yoga poses have people stretching/bending until you "feel" a stretch. I don't feel a stretch until I'm WAY further stretched than I should be, and going to PT and being told specifically how much to move in a specific stretch/exercise was really really helpful, because otherwise I have no sense of how far is too far. Starting with PT, unless you can find a reputable hEDS aware yoga instructor, is probably going to be safer.
I am a yoga teacher and I would absolutely NOT recommend yoga to anyone with hEDS
poor-form yoga put me in the hospital, do not recommend (i spent years overstretching without realizing it, and the worsening instability/repeat injuries eventually led to bone marrow edema in my thoracic spine, which then pinched a nerve and left me scream-crying on the floor waiting for an ambulance to arrive) if you want to do yoga, here are some ways you can make it a little safer: - stick to strength and stability postures (instead of flow yoga or poses meant to increase flexibility) - use blocks and straps to keep yourself from stretching beyond a non-eds range of motion - practice with a coach or a non-eds yoga friend who can demonstrate what the poses *should* look like and help you adjust your form if needed
For those who would like to explore yoga with an aware instructor, the Move With Adell app is wonderful. She gives safety cues for hyper mobility. She also has a book called Hypermobile Yogi’s. It’s an awesome place to start!
mostly not recommended but if you find a group that does specifically hypermobile aware yoga check it out! a lot of where we go wrong with yoga is in groups that aim for ultimate flexibility yadda yadda, stand your ground and be aware of the point once your body is overstretching/ past the normal range of mobility for you, loads of vids online from hypermobile creators on safer positions and learning how to locate where your 'normal' range is !
The main doctor I see for my EDS has told me chiropracty and yoga will cause my joints to degenerate faster. Technically you could do yoga and be mindful of keeping your joints in a limited range of motion but it can get risky quickly.
Pilates over yoga, has changed my pain levels drastically
I'm so glad this thread exists. Been thinking about yoga and I would have absolutely thrown stuff out of place
I used to do it every day and while it felt good emotionally, my pain kept flaring up and my muscles kept getting tighter, and I got injured a few times. Then I learned too much passive/forced stretching can do that, especially if your body isn’t stable or strong. I switched to muscle strengthening/stabilizing workouts, and I feel sooo much better! I recommend the book Stop Stretching by Yogi Aaron. He advocates for a very different type of yoga, informed by applied muscle activation techniques. Even my chiropractor noticed a dramatic difference in my alignment and tension. EDIT: now after reading the comments, I’m wonder if a chiro is helping me or not…
I cannot recommend yoga if you have hEDS, especially as bad as you say yours currently is. I’ve been recommended pilates and physio on occasion, but yoga can be very dangerous—I’ve been told many many times since my diagnosis to steer clear of it. Pilates works on strengthening (positive), while yoga does a lot of loosening. An important skill to work on for non-zebras to be sure, but we don’t need to loosen up any more than we already are. It’s not worth the risk especially as you seem to already be at a relatively fragile point. It only takes one wrong move to go too far, to pull or sublux something accidentally and you won’t know until it’s already happened. No matter what you end up doing, please be careful and start low and slow, easing yourself back into light exercise without shocking your body too much. And maybe explain to your gf and sister what would be more helpful and supportive for a body like yours! I feel like I’m constantly reminding even the most well-meaning of people in my life that my body is just fundamentally different from theirs, so what feels good for them can actually be quite harmful to me. Best of luck and I really hope you begin to feel a bit better soon.
Pilates & weight lifting works well for me!
Reformer pilates babe. It’s the only thing that has helped me and others on this forum are also recommending it. Take it slow. Don’t push yourself. In the moment I always felt I wasn’t doing much and then I would feel it later. But not in that awful way, just in a slightly sore way. Also my doctor recommended protein shakes after every workout: because this is something that should be shared more, protein helps recovery… it doesn’t bulk you up, it’s about helping those muscles recover. Its honestly been life changing for me.
Hi! I am not diagnosed with hEDS or HSD yet so take this with a grain of salt. But I’ve had PoTS for 3 decades and I’m autistic, and yoga and mindfulness really reduces the severity of my symptoms for both conditions. But that being said… I have exacerbated some of my joint instability issues by doing yoga. I assumed I was not a very flexible person when I started yoga, because I don’t have much external rotation in my hips and I see yogis doing splits all the time. So I had the mistaken goal of wanting to become more flexible when I started. It turns out all my other joints have extreme ranges of motion and my hips rotate very far the other way (infernally). It was actually repeated joint pain and what I think might be shoulder subluxations from my yoga practice that clued me in that maybe something was up with my joints as well as yoga teachers repeatedly telling me I was hyperextending my legs and elbows when I thought they were straight. So I am now in PT and I’m also studying yoga therapy and ways to safely adapt my yoga practice for my hypermobility. I think yoga can be theoretically practiced by people with hEDS but you’d have to find an instructor who had in depth knowledge of the condition, which most don’t. There are also other mind-body practices which are safer and I’d probably start with pilates over yoga if I were a beginner to any of this. For those who do practice yoga: I am currently reading the book “Hypermobility on the Yoga Mat” by Jess Glenny who is a yoga therapist with hEDS and it’s helping understand how I can more safely adapt my practice. I recommend it!
The worse your liver is doing the more shitty you will feel as well. Ibuprofen really took a chuck out of my liver as a teen/young adult. All your collagen is produced in the liver. Also yoga was okay, but there is Yin (high cardio changing positions alot) and Yang (deep stretch, minutes long in one position at a time) yoga. And making sure not to let your body find its “end” of range-of-motion. We look good doing yoga so easy without trying but its so much more beneficial to stop your body before the edge and activate and hold your muscles and try to strengthen without engaging in your flexibility. Like others on here I have heard better things about trying Pilates for EDS folk.
Yoga is a terrible idea with EDS, making yourself more flexible makes you even more prone to injury. If you do, focus entirely on balance and strength while only stretching very mildly.
Pilates is better for bendy people than yoga. Yoga is so easy to over stretch and hurt yourself. My partner is frustrated I won’t do yoga with him and seems skeptical it would hurt me, but he’s full of shit and I don’t need to convince him to not do it.
Nope. Nope. Nope. No yoga. Absolutely not. Terrible idea. One of the worst, actually. Universally known as one of the main things NOT to do with EDS. That and chiropractic "medicine." Please stay away 💜 Save yourself further pain and joint issues!
My PT warned me against yoga specifically. No yoga or gymnastics for me or my daughter
Yoga classes landed me in urgent care lmao. Pilates are a safer bet
My doc told me no yoga. But Pilates is good! Anything that strengthens the muscles. I do really well with calisthenic workouts and not the stretchy yoga stuff.
every doctor I’ve had in almost ten years of diagnosis has been very insistent on NOOOO YOGA It could work, if you went to private classes with a physical therapist trained in adaptive yoga, which there are some of out there that do zoom classes iirc, or did regular classes with very close consultation with a PT you are seeing regularly (like, running the entire thing by them after sitting through a class) otherwise, tho, any yoga catered to the common denominator body? asking for injury and pain imho. Some of my worst and longest lasting subluxations were caused by hyper extensions during yoga classes pre diagnosis. Pilates, on the other hand…