Hypermobility, also known as double-jointedness, is a condition where you can stretch your joints further than their normal range of motion.

Joints are parts of your body where your bones meet.

They allow the bones of your skeleton to move.

Hypermobility can affect one or more joints throughout the body and occurs in about 1 in 4 people.

Most people who are hypermobile won’t experience any difficulty.

However, if hypermobility occurs along with pain, fatigue, injuries to joints and ligaments, or other symptoms this disorder is known as joint hypermobility syndrome or hypermobility syndrome (JHS).

Hypermobility as a symptom

Hypermobility can be a symptom of some serious conditions like:

• Lupus
• Polio
• Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Down syndrome
• Morquio syndrome

Hypermobility and EDS

Hypermobility syndrome is an umbrella term for different conditions: Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder, Marfan syndrome, and Osteogenesis Imperfecta.

Hypermobile joints are a feature of genetic connective tissue disorders such as hypermobility spectrum disorder (HSD) or Ehlers–Danlos syndromes. 

Until new diagnostic criteria were introduced, hypermobility syndrome was sometimes considered identical to Ehlers–Danlos syndrome hypermobile type. 

Because of the similarity of the diagnostic criteria and recommended treatments, many experts recommend they should be recognized as the same condition until further research is carried out.

Hypermobility and brain

It is found that people with unusually flexible joints have overly active flight or fight nervous systems.

Their amygdala, associated with emotional processing, is larger.^[1] 

Hypermobility is also linked to stress-sensitive psychosomatic disorders including irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue.^[2]

In addition, individuals with hypermobility often exhibit autonomic abnormalities, typically postural tachycardia syndrome, where there is enhanced cardiovascular reactivity and a phenomenological overlap with anxiety disorders.^[3]

Therefore, direct and indirect evidence links hypermobility to anxiety and stress-sensitive medical disorders. 

Treatments

Depending on what underlies hypermobility, hypermobility can be cured or not.

If there is a genetic component that actually changes the tissue structures around the joint there isn’t a cure for hypermobility.

You can control your symptoms by making healthy choices. Taking good care of your body may prevent joint injuries in the future.

Besides, there is a combination of treatments that can help control hypermobility when it occurs alongside specific symptoms.

Here are some treatments that can help:

• Dextrose prolotherapy – is a safe, natural injection procedure that is used to treat a variety of different muscle and skeleton conditions within the body. The solution that is used has three ingredients- dextrose (sugar), lidocaine (anesthetic) and a small amount of B-12. Prolotherapy stimulates the body to repair painful areas. It ignites a wound repair process where acute inflammation is created, increased blood flow occurs which leads to collagen transforming into cartilage and ligaments. Prolotherapy causes ligaments, tendons and joint structures to be ticker, and stronger so they can withstand more force. It ignites a similar inflammatory process that occurs when we exercise. The body then regenerates the injured structures to get them healthy and strong again.
• PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) – is a treatment that is used for individuals who experience musculoskeletal pain, sports-related injuries and chronic conditions. These injections can alleviate pain, improve mobility and decrease inflammation. PRP is a stronger treatment than prolotherapy. For more severe conditions PRP is used. 
• Ozone therapy – is a naturally-occurring gas that consists of three atoms of oxygen and shows promise to reduce inflammation and balance free radicals in the body. Injecting ozone gas reduces pain and improves the functioning of joints.
• Exosome therapy- This therapy encourages whole body rejuvenation and it is commonly used to reverse the effects of aging. However, it is used to treat medical conditions such as joint pain. With exosome injections, inflammation is reduced and damage is reversed once this solution is injected. Joint pain is eased quickly through inflammation reduction and joint repair.
• Stem cell therapy – is a non-invasive treatment that helps repair the damaged cells within the body by reducing inflammation and modulating the immune system. This therapy allows the body to heal itself and reduce the symptoms of the conditions.

On the other hand, if you have hypermobility due to nervous system issues that aren’t the result of a brain or spinal cord injury, this is completely changeable.

This is one of the large pieces I focus on when working on myself and with my clients. The goal is to improve performance by applying neuroscience.

We identify the underlying issue and do a series of very specific neuro-centric exercises to drop the pain and improve mobility.

Conclusion

It is considered that hypermobility itself is non-progressive mainly because joint laxity reduces naturally as we age.

Current pain you may have is often related to poor muscle tone, which can be improved by working on your neurological training, muscle strength, posture, and balance which goes a long way to help to protect your body from further injuries.

Also, you can prevent further development and alleviate pain with mentioned treatments.

However, it is important to seek professional advice as hypermobility can lead to other problems such as osteoarthritis, dislocations, and conditions such as scoliosis later in life.