Hypermobile? Here’s why you’re so clumsy (and what to do about it)
Blog by Jenni! 4 min read.
There’s a few ways to check if you’re Hypermobile, including the Beighton Score, but another clue is someone who gets ‘silly little injuries’, like rolling their ankles when just out for a walk. Someone who’s just a bit uncoordinated... and well… a bit clumsy.
Of course, there are people who bumble their way through life without having any connective tissue disorders to blame it on, but for those of us who have lax ligaments this clumsiness actually has a cause.
(Hypermobility can range from being isolated to 1 or 2 joints, all the way up to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) which has incredibly serious effects on the entire body. Not everyone’s experience is the same; you can be hypermobile with coordination & grace, or flail around like one of those inflatable car park men. This blog is written from the point of view of mid-range Joint Hypermobility Syndrome)
How Hypermobility Causes Clumsiness
It all comes down to proprioception. Hold your hand out straight out to your side, close your eyes, now without opening them touch the tip of your index finger to your nose.
Did you get it?
That’s your body using proprioception to work out where you are in space!
We use proprioception all the time, we’re very rarely looking at our body yet we’re moving almost constantly. It is a complex ability that involves multiple systems in your body, including sensory receptors in your muscles, joints & tendons to create a ‘map’ of you.
However, when your joints & tendons are compromised due to increased laxity in your connective tissue these receptors can receive & send slightly inaccurate information, causing glitches in your map. Basically, you’re not quite where you think you are.
You’re more likely to trip on that uneven ground, less able to quickly recalibrate when something wobbles you, more likely to hit your arms into things, catch things with your toes, misjudge your distance from a doorframe... plus other less obvious quirks like sitting in strange positions without knowing, holding your body at weird angles, find it difficult to imitate a movement, and generally have much less awareness of what you’re doing.
You might get a lot of comfort from tight clothing or shoes, holding your hands in pockets and other ways to give your body tactile feedback of where your things are.
There have been studies trying to get to the bottom of this phenomenon, but with no clear answer or consistent results. Proprioception of the lower limbs seems to be affected more, but how much it’s affected varies a lot between people. Though from my own experience and from working with other hypermobile Bendy Wendys, this general increase clumsiness and decrease in coordination holds true.
What You Can Do About It
Even though this is pretty in-built, there is still stuff you can do to improve your floundering! Pick a couple of the exercises below (or your own ideas!) and add them into warm ups, cool downs, or even mini challenges throughout your day!
Build Co-ordination
Even if we’re starting out more clumsy than the average bear, coordination is a skill we can improve just like any other!
Some of these you’ll need to start slowly if your joints need a bit of prep work, for example skipping & agility ladder drills may require some time on ankle & knee stability first!
Practice Staying Sill
If we want to get better at moving, sometimes we have to start by staying still!
You can even use tools like wobble boards, swiss balls, anything to add a wobble that you need to correct!
Build Control
Finally, when our joints can take us places our muscles don’t really want to go we can have a tendency to move fast, “bouncing” into movements rather than being active.
So, take some of your regular exercises that you may already do and SLOW THEM DOWN! Learn to control the entire movement!
E.g.
Squats --> Do Tempo Squats, 5 seconds down, 5 seconds hold at the bottom, 5 seconds back up
Running --> Do Tempo Calf Raises, 1 second up, 3 second hold, 3 seconds back down
Pull Ups / Lat Pull Down --> Add a Tempo: 3 seconds up, 3 second hold at the top, 5 seconds back down
Think about what you already do and slow it down! It WILL be hard! And you will hate it!! But the strength & progress you’ll build will be incredible.
Building this coordination, stability & control will go a long way to helping you move from the person who’s scared to do new things or move too quickly to the person who’s confident in their body!
Do you have any favourite exercises for building coordination? Send me a message or let us know on comments/social media! I’m always looking for new exercises to help with Hypermobility training 💪🏻
