For people with hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) or Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder (HSD), movement can feel confusing. Joints might pop, pain can flare up, and fatigue is common. Our Exercise Physiologists at Essential Health Physiotherapy can provide evidence-based exercise prescriptions to make daily life easier and safer.

Exercise is ✨essential✨for Hypermobility

1. Stronger muscles support flexible joints!
   • People with hypermobility often have loose joints due to extra-stretchy connective tissue. Building strength helps muscles act like extra support straps, keeping joints safer and more stable.
2. Pain can improve over time
   • Gentle strengthening increases blood flow and reduces strain, often helping with long-term pain.
3. Can reduce fatigue
   • When your muscles are stronger, your body doesn’t have to work as hard to do everyday tasks. That means more energy for life.
4. Better balance & posture
   • Core and stabilising exercises help joints work in the right position, making walking, sitting, lifting, and standing easier.

🧠 How an Exercise Physiologist Can Help

An exercise physiologist (EP) can specialise in Hypermobility and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome with extra training. At Essential Health Physiotherapy Shailer Park, our EPs can provide safe exercise programs for chronic pain and conditions, including hEDS and HSD. Our clinicians can:

✔ teach safe strengthening without overstretching

✔ build stability, not flexibility

✔ prevent flare-ups and fatigue

✔ adjust exercises on good and bad days

Instead of “push harder,” our EPs focus on slow, controlled movements that protect your joints.

Best Types of Exercise

               •             Slow, gentle strength training

               •             Core stability (e.g., Pilates-style exercises)

               •             Balance training

Many people with hEDS also live with other related conditions. Some may experience autonomic symptoms such as dizziness, faster heart rate, and temperature changes. As well as conditions like fibromyalgia, ME/CFS-like fatigue, digestive problems, or frequent joint dislocations. Not everyone has these, but they’re common and may help us put the pieces of the puzzle together and understand the whole picture.

📝 Quick Checklist: Could It be hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome?

Tick if YES:

⬜ Very flexible joints (bend further than most people)

⬜ Joints often sprain, strain, or slip out

⬜ Joint pain lasting 3 months or more

⬜ Soft/stretchy skin or unusual scars

⬜ Close family member with similar symptoms

📌 Ticked 3 or more?

👉 It’s worth asking your practitioner about hEDS/HSD.

🔴 If you have very fragile skin or serious, unexplained organ/blood vessel problems, ask for a specialist referral.

🌻 The Bottom Line

You don’t need extreme workouts. With hypermobility, gentle and consistent is more powerful than intense and painful. The right exercise makes joints safer, reduces pain, improves energy, and helps you live comfortably in your body. If this is you, book an appointment at our clinic. Our exercise physiologist, Marianna, is ‘hEDS aware’ and is listed on the Ehlers-Danlos Society directory of health practitioners. The directory can be accessed with the link below.

Hypermobility Exercise Support is available at 07 3132 0898.

Check our Previous Blogs

• Why Movements Matter for hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder
• Understanding Whiplash: Your First Steps to Recovery
• Runner’s Knee Explained: Causes, Symptoms & 7 Treatments
• Shin Splints No More: 6 Proven Ways to Prevent and Treat the Pain
• Stop Tennis Elbow for Good: 5 Proven Treatments That Work