My physio has said that I am generally just hypermobile. She has said that my joints are ‘loose’ and that I hyperextend all of them.

My workout (every other day) looks like this:
*I first spend between 30 – 45 minutes of the recumbent bike.
*I do weights on the machines (very low weights, I have built up very little strength. I saw a personal trainer who helped me figure out the proper use and advised me to stay within 70% of my range of motion -or I seem to hyperextend certain movements. I don’t feel I’ve gotten any stronger over the last year and have only increased weight by 5%. Every time I try I pull a muscle.)
*Core exercises (my physio has sent me to a pilates school, where we do very careful core work, so I spend about 10 minutes doing some core exercises.
*stretches (basic for all muscles).

I Highland


My physio has given me some exercises, that are a bit hard to describe, but I’ll try. Because of the shin splints she would like me to strengthen my calves, standing on one leg I do ten repetitions on each leg of getting onto my tippytoes. For my knees I do something she calls the clamshell. For my back and shoulders we have done a modified ‘superman’ where you are up on your arms and knees and you must extend one leg back and the opposite arm forward, balance for 5 seconds, and alternate sides. She’s modified it for me to doing just the arms, then just the legs because I lose my balance easily. For my ankles I have been doing exercises on a balance board. My neck and shoulder blades get very tight so I have a foam roller that I lie on and have some exercises where I move my arms back and forth and it seems to relieve the tension. For my shoulders we use a theraband exercises (elbows in, hands hold the elastic, palms down and you pull the elastic away carefully, then return). For my hamstrings and back I lie on my back with a stability ball under my ankles, then lift my pelvis and hold. I basically bring my physio booklet with me everywhere I go to help me remember all the exercises I need to do at the gym and home. I am pretty compliant. My physio has checked a few times that I am doing them correctly. She usually has to correct me on my positions. Without a mirror I have no idea what my body is doing…thank goodness there’s a big mirror at my gym.


I’m really determined to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and I don’t want to give up any of my physical activity. I know my physio isn’t thrilled about my dancing, and she has advised against every other activity except the bike and her careful plan, which is fine I was just hoping that all these muscle pulls and spasms would decrease.

When I go to physio it is mostly passive (for me). She stretches my calves, ultrasounds and massages the area around them. Or when we work on my shoulder she ultrasounds, passively stretches my shoulder, and pushes on the front of my shoulder. It gets better, but is very time limited. Especially with my shoulder (it is my right and I am right handed) I hurt it somehow every week doing very simple tasks (like cutting a piece of meat).


It’s a bit embarrassing to be always pulling muscles and having to be so careful at my age. And it takes a lot of time to try to get my legs to somewhat relax so that I’m comfortable enough to sleep. It feels like it’s always getting worse!


I’m not sure if I should end physio as I am making little and slow progress, or try a different physio? It’s sounding like my body is just built this way and maybe I just need to be careful and accept that.


Thank you for your help – I will certainly look into the techniques you have mentioned.