Building Stability In My Hypermobile Body- Learning and Developing a Plan.

Hello! Welcome back to my free inquiry project on learning more about Hypermobility Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS).

For the first step in my free inquiry, I read the book Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome & hypermobility Spectrum Disorder – The Complete Pain Management and Movement Therapy Guide for Patients and Clinicians by Dr. Avery Sinclair. I decided to read this before jumping into exercises because I want to understand how this condition affects my body and the reasoning behind specific exercises. In this post, I will reflect on some of the information that stood out to me, and how I will use it to develop a well rounded plan for healing my body.

Before reading this book, I had planned on solely focusing on exercise and strengthening my joints; however afterwards, I have decided to take a more well rounded wellness approach.

Dr. Avery Sinclair states “your lifestyle habits are as important as your physical therapy program” (p.48), which is why I have decided to tackle sleep, nutrition, and exercise in this free inquiry project.

Lets start with sleep… Sleep is very important for muscle and body recovery, so having good sleep hygiene is essential. I have always had trouble with my sleep, I tracked my sleep for a psychology class last year, and discovered I wake up around 7-9 times a night. Sleep disturbances is common in people with hEDS so having tricks to assist sleep is critical. The infographic below are the steps I have chosen to take to improve my sleep.

The next lifestyle choice I plan to focus on is nutrition, both the foods I eat and vitamins and supplements I take. To support hEDS it is suggested to have a diet that focuses on high quality protein. Protein supports soft tissue and muscle repair which is key for someone struggling with muscle fatigue due to hypermobility.

Vitamins can be helpful to aid the body in some recovery and pain management. The book suggests taking Omega-3’s for its anti inflammatory properties. Zinc, vitamin C, and copper are suggested to support connective tissue integrity. Throughout this process I will take vitamins and try to focus on quality protein to help assist my healing.

Now onto the hard part, creating a exercise plan that will work for my body…

With hEDS, connective tissue (collagen especially) is less stable and more elastic than typical. Resulting in my joints being able to move past their normal range, and because of this my muscles have to work overtime to stabilize my body. This leads to fatigue, pain, and frequent injury. A stability exercise plan looks different than the typical workout program. There is a high focus on 3 aspects… Low-load, isometric, and concentric.

Low-load means using minimal resistance ( like body weight, light resistance bands, or lightweight dumbbells). Isometric means activating the muscles without moving the joint (think wall sit). And finally concentric, which is shortening the muscle during contraction.

Building a strengthening plan have proven to be more difficult than I expected. Not finding information or content on it, but where my body is at and what my body needs. Having gone to the gym in the past, I am struggling to go back to the very basics and feel like there is value to it. Since the point of these movements is deep stability, you tend not to feel the muscle burn, which I associate with progress and the exercise working. I have had to switch my mindset and trust the process. An example is a deep core stability exercise where you lay on your back and have your knees bent. You then lift one foot up a few inches off the ground then place it back down then switch sides. To me, I feel like I am past having to do this and that it is to simple it won’t work. I am trying to be open minded and just try it.

Since the exercise aspect is so big, I have decided it deserves its own post. Please click here: Building Stability In My Hypermobile Body- Exercise Plan to see my workout plan and video demonstrations on how to do some exercises.

Thank you for reading my second free inquiry entry 🙂

Written by Hailey