By Gero Fiore on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 06:12 am:

I am 36 yrs of age, I have recently had an MRI scan for my right shoulder joint problems, next week I will get my results. I think I have hypermobile/hyperlax joints because since I was young I could make my shoulder blades stick out into the air and make my arms stretch back beyond my neck and make my hand reach and touch the opposite ear, I can do the standing with knees straight and palms touching the ground easily and bend my fingers to 90 degrees, the thumb bending and touching forearm, knee overbending etc. But also what I've also been able to do is roll my upper arms out of the shoulder socket easily. When I sleep on my belly and put my arms on the side of my head, the shoulders, well - the arm rolls out of the joint, on some occasions if it's been really cold that night I wake up with a damp/cold kind of feeling in the joints and it aches for a few hours or the whole day. About 2 years ago I was doing a self defence workshop and in this workshop I smashed with my elbow a punch bag - forward horizontal elbow strikes (like a hook in boxing) backward elbow strikes etc. I had aches in my right shoulder a day later and went to the doc a week after that, he told me to rest and do no training - so I did as he said and I rested for 3 months, I started again doing light weights BANG!! again ached for days - went to the doc he told me to rest it for another 3 months before starting to train again, this went on for a year. My doc finally decided to have an MRI scan done on my shoulder so that I could get a definate diagnosis, had the MRI after waiting six months, next week I get my results. Although both shoulders are hypermobile ONly the right shoulder aches, could it be that my right is the dominant arm? Or arthritis in that joint? It started to ache a few years ago, by itself really - no hard training involved. I have scoliosis and have had TMJ problems in the past, also depression/anxiety problems and battling acid reflux problems at the moment, but that may be because of I am overweight and have a beer belly - although I don't drink beer.

My dream is to be a self defence instructor in the near future, if the doc says to me that I should not do any strenuous activity then it's a big blow for me, and don't know what to do. The martial disciplines that I wanted to study are boxing, wrestling, wing chun (kung Fu), Aikido and European traditional arts. But if my shoulder can't take the impact of a blow as in the hook (swinging type punch), jab, cross in Boxing, in wrestling or grappling you need to have strong shoulders too. I can't even do a few press ups with my own body weight or my shoulder starts to 'go' or 'twinge'. I just wonder if there any other people who have a similar problem?

I remember when I was about 19 yrs of age I did a weight lifting exercise called 'press behind neck' where you put the bar behind the neck and lift upward and down again. I felt okay after the workout but at about 3am in the morning I had terrible pain and ended up in hospital, I was given seriousd painkillers and didn't do any more weight training after that. The reason I did the workout in the first place was because my doc at the time told me I should build up my back muscles due to my recently diagnosed scoliosis!

Well unless I change my goal slightly and teach a soft kind of art maybe a combination of Tai Chi and Aikido, any suggestions? Thanks for your help.

By Mrs Debra Wood on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 09:05 am:

Hi, just wondered if I could get some advise off anyone. My daughter aged 5 has just been diagnosed with Hypermobility in her joints, I knew there was something wrong as she has had pain in her legs for about a year now, anyway after we were told she had this the doctor at the hospital said he does not need to see her anymore, and I have no real information on the subject, apart from the fact that he said she would grow out of it. Since then I have wondered whether bladder weakness has anything to do with her condition, also she always complains she has stomach aches, please can anyone help!!! I can't seem to find information anywhere. Thank you

By Michelle Castle on Friday, February 20, 2004 - 10:58 pm:

I sent the following to Debrah in an email.

Debrah,
I saw your posts on the hypermobility forum. First, your doctor is right that your daughter will probably grow out of it. Joint laxity decreases as we age, so that's always a possiblity, especially for someone so young. But you're right to pursue treatment if she's in a lot of pain.

As far as any connection between a weak bladder and HMS, I can't think of anything one way or the other. Since lots of kids have bladder control problems, it'd be difficult to know if her problem was normal or HMS related. But since HMS is a connective tissue disorder, some people have other connective tissues besides the ligaments and tendons that are affected - mostly skin abnormalities, but very rarely organs can be affected. If her skin or other organs are affected, she probably has one of the Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes. The Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome National Foundation has a lot of information at their website, www.ednf.org. Just be aware that some of the extremely rare EDS types can be fatal - but not the ones associated with joint hypermobility, so try not to be alarmed. It's also important to note that most experts believe HMS and the hypermobility type of EDS are the same thing. I don't know where you live, but it seems to me that HMS is the more common name used in the United Kingdom and EDS (Hypermobility Type) is used more commonly in the United States.

Another good, general resource is the Hypermobility Syndrome Association website, www.hypermobility.org. They have links to several authoratative medical articles by leading researchers, as well as an active forum where you can ask questions. You can request printed materials from both the EDNF and the HMSA at minimal exspense.

The Yahoo Hypermobility Group is also a good place to ask questions. You can join the email list by visiting http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/hypermobility.

For abstracts of related medical articles, you can search Pubmed. To search for recent articles on EDS, visit http://www.nlm.nih.gov/cgi/medlineplus/pubmedsearch.pl?theURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Encbi%2Enlm%2Enih%2Egov%3A80%2Fentrez%2Fquery%2Efcgi%3FCMD%3Dsearch%26term%3DEhlers%2DDanlos%2BSyndrome%5Bmajr%5D%2BAND%2Benglish%5Bla%5D%2BAND%2Bhuman%5Bmh%5D%2B%26db%3DPubMed%26orig%5Fdb%3DPubMed%26filters%3Don%26pmfilter%5FEDatLimit%3D1%2BYears%26tool%3DMedlinePlus.

And although I haven't added anything to it recently, I keep a list of related resources at http://hms-eds-resources.blogspot.com. I have a lot of useful links there.

If you run across terms you don't understand, I've found dictionary.com to be useful. If you need help finding info, send me an email and I'll see what I can dig up. I've gotten to be too good at it.

Michelle

By Roxanna Schort on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 - 05:38 pm:

Hi,I am Roxanna
I was told about 6yrs ago that I had hypermobility joint syndrome.At that time I was 25 and had severe pain around both my shoulder blades and to me what felt like knots(which was tightening of the muscles).I went to a rhemotologist that did a few test and said I had it.He then told me a few things to expect from it and sent me on my way,at the time I was on all kinds of medication from my family dr.vicodin,anti inflamitory's I was truelly out of it.But the pain never seemed to go away.I did search on the web and found nothing or at least not what I was experiencing.So now I thought I would try it once again.
I first started off with like I said Very bad pain around the shoulder blades.I went to physical therapy for that and it only seemed to make it worse unless I was getting massaged or the therapist was helping me with certain activities.Now over the yrs.it seemed to progress I never live a day with out pain around the shoulder blades(somedays worse then others).It's progressed to neck pain it feels like someone is holding my head down.And just recently My lower back tightens up and hurts so bad and if I stand to long my right hip hurts.Sometimes my legs go numb.I never did anything like some people say they have done like the legs over the head or the thumb bending so far back as a kid(so this makes me wonder if it is hypermobility or could it possibly be something else?In the last 2yrs.I have gotten divorced and have know health insurance so therefore I can not medically get any more help for now.So I was curious if anyone else has these symptoms.I have also developed a very tender spot in the spine area between the shoulder blades,also I have problems with tight feeling in my hands and lower arms.When I was in physical therapy she said she never heard of it in the back area
Someone please have answers
You can e-mail me at Roxanne_Schort@hotmail.com
Thanks

By Ian Murray on Saturday, May 01, 2004 - 02:46 pm:

It is known that people with Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (JHS) are more likely to suffer from problems to do with the autonomic nervous system, however whilst there is proof of this being so, there is currently no idea what this has to do with JHS. The autonomic system deals with things like controlling your blood pressure when you stand up (causing dizziness and fainting) and digesting food. It may well cause problems with bladder muscle tone. As you are living in the UK (you have a UK based e-mail address) I can suggest that you consider joining the HMSA http://www.hypermobility.org/ who will be able to help or e-mail me directly

Regards,
Ian Murray (father of a flexible Matthew, aged 8)
(additional information also sent to Debra directly)