Heavy Lifting and Hypermobility Syndrome

justkate88

Hello,

I'm aware of the benefits of heavy lifting and I'm really interested in starting. I have hypermobility syndrome, which means that my joints stretch farther than is normal (which can be good in certain scenarios...) but I'm not sure how this would affect me lifting.

One of my shoulders is very weak following a dislocation a couple of years ago - I may or may not need pins putting in there, I see my orthopedic surgeon in a few weeks to assess. A few months ago it was so weak I could barely shut the car boot with that arm, and the shoulder would crunch each time it was extended backwards (getting dressed, doing up a seat belt, etc).

I've been doing the 30DS, and using (pathetic) 1kg weights. My good shoulder is fine, whereas my bad shoulder struggled at first, but I can feel it getting stronger. I plan on increasing the weights gradually to see how it feels.

Does anybody else have hypermobility syndrome? And, if so - are you able to heavy lift? (I will of course be asking my surgeon and my physiotherapist about all this too, just seeking opinions for now). Is there a heavy lifting programme which allows you to start with very low weights?

Bakkasan

You can start any heavy program with light weights. Strong Lifts suggests starting with empty bars.

mreeves261

I have Hypermobility Syndrome as well. I do my best to not let it stop me from doing anything I want to do. I've had surgery on 1 shoulder because the motion from walking made it slide in and out of place. Slowly increase your weights. You will know when it's too much because you will feel the instability. Just be cautious and build up slowly and you will be able to lift. Strengthening the muscles around the joints will help with any instability. At least that has been my experience. Good luck! Hope the surgery isn't necessary for you!

justkate88

Thanks, that's encouraging. Shoulder surgery doesn't bother me that much I suppose. The knee reconstruction bothers me. I'll be off my feet for ages after that. After dislocating it in the first place I was on crutches for 18 months (which is when I piled on the majority of my weight).

mreeves261

Thanks, that's encouraging. Shoulder surgery doesn't bother me that much I suppose. The knee reconstruction bothers me. I'll be off my feet for ages after that. After dislocating it in the first place I was on crutches for 18 months (which is when I piled on the majority of my weight).

I've been lucky with my knees thus far. I learned at a very early age how to walk, run and stand without letting my knees move the way they want. Unfortunately I have huge quads and calfs from it now but knock on wood no knee surgeries!

The surgery I had kept my shoulder immobilized for a month. The first time they moved it in PT I thought I was going to die!

Vailara

I haven't been diagnosed with hypermobility syndrome, but I do have some hypermobility and joint pain. I found that heavy lifting did not seem to make it worse, and possibly made it better. That's just my experience and not medical advice! And it's difficult to pinpoint what makes things better or worse! I suppose your shoulder could make things more difficult. Good luck!

justkate88

Unfortunately I have huge quads and calfs from it now but knock on wood no knee surgeries!

Ditto! Thighs and calves of steel here due to years in physiotherapy learning how to walk without my knees collapsing in on me! And wobbly everything else!

justkate88

I haven't been diagnosed with hypermobility syndrome, but I do have some hypermobility and joint pain. I found that heavy lifting did not seem to make it worse, and possibly made it better. That's just my experience and not medical advice! And it's difficult to pinpoint what makes things better or worse! I suppose your shoulder could make things more difficult. Good luck!

Thank you. Doing things like squats has certainly improved the strength and stability in my bad knee. I'm hoping that, as long as I do it very gradually, lifting weights will do the same for my shoulders (and elbows, come to think of it, they're a bit tricky too!).

CoderGal

Does anybody else have hypermobility syndrome? And, if so - are you able to heavy lift? (I will of course be asking my surgeon and my physiotherapist about all this too, just seeking opinions for now). Is there a heavy lifting programme which allows you to start with very low weights?

I've never been diagnosed by a doctor but I've had several dance instructors, students, and various other people tell me I should get it checked out because I can do various things I shouldn't be able to such as the following (I'm touching the ground and the roof of the bus here):

I can actually get my foot behind my head.

Anyhow, I know exactly where you're coming from. The places you are hypermobile well be very weak. I can stretch my arms way to far back behind my body and find flyes incredibly hard. Like 10lbs is a huge amount. My hips are super flexible as you can see above and I find I lose ALL my strength at the bottom of my squats. Like I go from having plenty of 'this is almost to easy' strength to zip nothing. I feel my legs go from supper awesome ok to completely fatigued after 1. So I decided to go to the les press the other day...Everyone else around me chucked on over 100 lbs...first time squatters, several of them small females. One thing I noticed though is their heals came off the machine as they went down (because they weren't flexible enough I guess). So I chuck on 45lbs just to test it out because I knew those parts were flexible. I unhinge the weights and move my legs slightly. "No problem" I think. "This feels light" I thought. So I get down to the bottom where it's touching the safety since I don't know when to stop since my heals are easily planted and it must have looked like I was roughing it because several friends jumped over immediately and asked me if it was OK and if it was to much lol. They looked perplexed. Particularly since women tend to have pretty strong thighs. So which much much effort and me turning quite purple I got my set in...with the help of my hands.

This week I chucked on 70lbs just for kicks to see if I could get one up. Well I got 1 up, 16 times, then 12, then 10, then 8...going down straight to the safety again. Pathetically weak and nothing to brag about but still. That's 25lbs heavier then last time and leaps and bounds more then I increased in anything else. Keep at it. Don't worry if you have to go down to incredibly weak weights. I suggest you use your full range of motion. No point of strengthening the strong muscles and leaving what you know is super weak to be left super weak. I would only imagine that could lead to more problems. You're better off working those muscles, especially if you're hypermobile. Apparently strength training is great for that. I've asked a million people many times over what I should do including many hypermobile people. That was my conclusion. You get stronger and have more control and it helps you support those hyperflexible parts better.

Gluck! I hope you keep at it.

justkate88

Thanks - my hips are very flexible too! As a kid I (so I am told) used to sit and watch the TV with my legs behind my head, rocking - that's how I was comfortable! Haha. Very strange child.

I'm going to gradually increase my weights at home. I see my surgeon on 1st May so I will ask him then what he thinks about heavy lifting.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome so I'm all crazy stretchy and prone to frequent dislocations. Nothing has helped me more than lifting. In the beginning I was nervous and started off really light with things like 25lbs (in each hand) DB squats. It's helped tighten up my joints and kept things together. My joints are much stronger. Now I can do lmao2plaet!!1!!11! (225lbs) BB squats. Be careful, but definitely do it.

mkakids

I habe hypermobile shoulders and I worry about lifting heavy. I still do it, I just make sure my form is 100% spot on and if anything starts to "wobble" I stop. The two exercises that I find most difficult (stability wise) are overhead press and crunches surprisingly. I haven't dislocated anything in a while, and my shoulders do feel more stable than before I started lifting.

Glad to see that others deal with this too!

sidradical

I have being doing CrossFit for 6 months, before this I regularly lifted weights in the gym. I have always been flexible although was only recently diagnosed with hypermobility! Interestingly I have always had naturally large muscles in my legs! – Form is very important, as well as staying away from static stretching and focusing on motor control instead. For mobilizing it is best to work on your sliding surfaces with a lacrosse ball etc. Not had too much trouble, apart from spraining my ankles regularly and a niggling shoulder problem that I am working on. Good to know that there is other people out there with similar concerns. 