🧠 How I Work: A Targeted, Evidence-Based Approach for Hypermobile Bodies
- Laura Hernandez
- Jul 22, 2025
- 3 min read
If you’re on the fence whether you should be seeing a Physiotherapist who understands Hypermobility or a regular Physiotherapist, let me tell you our approach is very different when it comes to hypermobile bodies.
Here's what that looks like in practice:
🔍 Correct the Root, Not Just the Symptom: I look for why symptoms are happening by identifying dysfunctional movement patterns and underlying joint issues, not just treating where it hurts.
🦴 Restore Joint Alignment & Muscle Tone: By improving joint alignment and reducing excessive tension, muscles can fire and wire together. Through history-taking, range of motion assessment, and accessory joint testing, we can determine if stability needs to be added to the joint by oftentimes by increasing stiffness in the direction of hypermobility.
⚡ Enhance Sensory Input for Better Activation: Techniques like electroacupuncture improve activation of weak and underused muscles.
🎯 Build Control, Not Just Range Hypermobility isn’t about too much movement—it’s about not enough control. We train joint stability in the ranges you actually use. When there is little motor control and muscle activation around a joint, micro trauma can occur during daily activities due to dysfunctional movement patterns. Overtime, the repetitive microinjuries affect ligamentous and bony stability around the joint, causing more muscle weakness, less control, more hypermobility and more microtrauma. The recurrent injuries make the hypermobility worse, which then result in a new unstable joint. This is how a hypermobile joint can become unstable if movement patterns are not addressed.
🦶Start at the Foundation: Feet & CoreI assess the whole body, starting at the feet and core. Often, instability in one joint comes from stiffness or weakness in a neighboring area—a concept known as regional interdependence.
🧱 Stabilize Before Releasing TensionNot all tight muscles need to be stretched—many are compensating for unstable joints. We stabilize the root issue before or while addressing the tension.
🫁 Calm the Nervous System: Pain is often amplified by a revved-up nervous system. Chronic pain is often linked to an overactive sympathetic nervous system—the part of your body responsible for the "fight or flight" response. The most common trigger? Stress. Think of it like a hypersensitive fire alarm: your nervous system starts sending pain signals in response to even the slightest perceived threat—like tension or pressure on nerves, ligaments, or tendons—even when there’s no actual tissue damage. In these cases, calming the nervous system is just as important as strengthening the body. That’s where techniques like breathwork, acupuncture, and safe, consistent movement come in to reset your body’s alarm system.
🩹 Smart Bracing (When Needed)Bracing or taping can provide support during early rehab or painful flare up phases—but it’s temporary. We want to support, not replace, your muscles. You may also need medications to address inflammation and pain during a flare up because inflammation can lead to more weakness, microinjuries and instability.
🏗️ Strengthen from the Inside Out Exercises progress from core to limbs, starting small (closed chain, isometrics, proximal, non-weight bearing, mid-range isometrics and short lever) and gradually building toward full movement with endurance and resilience.
🧬Pain Is Complex—And So Is the FixFrom digestion and sleep to energy and cognition, I understand how hypermobility affects the whole system. Sympathetic overdrive affects sleep, pain, energy, digestion and cognition. I use acupuncture and breathwork to calm things down and shift you out of “fight or flight.” For those with dysautonomia, we modify cardio (using RPE, not HR) and tailor exercises to avoid flare-ups.
If you’re unsure where to start, book a free consultation with me using the link below 🗓️
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