By Bailey Squires

In reality, there’s no such thing as being double–jointed. (Wait…..what?). The term implies that you have two joints where there should be one, which isn’t possible.

It may be a cool party trick but what people think of as ‘double-jointedness’ is actually a term called ‘hypermobility’.

‘Hypermobility’ means your joints can move beyond the normal range of motion. This means your joints are very flexible due to the tissue that connects the joint being more lax than usual.

Hypermobility is common amongst children, often affecting girls more than boys and usually will be inherited from either or both parents.

Your child may experience:

• Joint and/or muscle pains
• Weakness in the muscles, which may present as clumsiness and can affect fine/gross motor skills
• ‘flat feet’
• Babies may appear floppy or weak
• They might bum shuffle to get around
• Will probably hate tummy time
• Might be late in reaching milestones such as learning to sit and walk
• ‘W’ sitting

Physio can help if your child is:

• Not reaching their milestones
• Having problems with everyday activities/ school tasks
• Experiencing frequent or severe pain

How can you help your child:

• Make sure that your kiddies stay active and strong, this will help reduce joint pain and prevent injury
• Focus on fun activities such as swimming, cycling, jumping on a trampoline
• Spread exercise out throughout the day and do little bits at a time. This will assist and minimise muscle pain and joint ache after exercise