Joint hypermobility

Joint hypermobility means that some or all of your joints move further than most people’s, which many people describe as being double-jointed. When it comes with symptoms, the NHS calls it joint hypermobility syndrome. It usually shows up in children and young people and often gets better with age (NHS).

How common is joint hypermobility?

Very. In a survey of 12,853 adults in Aberdeen and Cheshire, 18.3% were classed as hypermobile (Mulvey et al., 2013). Being flexible is not a problem in itself; even among people with joint hypermobility syndrome, some have no symptoms at all (NHS).

It can run in families. The joints are loose because the ligaments that should support them are weak, and that weakness comes from collagen that is different from other people’s (NHS).

When does hypermobility become a syndrome?

The NHS lists the symptoms that suggest joint hypermobility syndrome: often feeling tired even after rest, recurring pain and stiffness in joints or muscles, repeated sprains and strains, joints that dislocate, poor balance or co-ordination, thin stretchy skin, and bladder or bowel problems. A GP usually assesses it with the Beighton scoring system, a check of how far certain joints bend (NHS).

The names have changed. In 2017 an international group proposed “hypermobility spectrum disorders” as the label for symptomatic hypermobility that doesn’t fit a specific syndrome (Castori et al., 2017). The best-known specific syndromes are the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (Castori et al., 2017), a group of inherited connective tissue disorders of which the hypermobile type is the most common. Its genetic cause is still unknown (Ravi & Daley, 2026). Most experts see joint hypermobility syndrome as part of the same spectrum (NHS).

Does hypermobility cause pain?

The link is real but modest. In the large UK survey, hypermobile people were slightly more likely to report chronic widespread pain, 18.5% against 15.8%. After accounting for age, sex, work, smoking, alcohol and activity, they were about 1.6 times as likely to report the most severe widespread pain. The authors noted that unmeasured factors, such as psychological distress, might explain part of it (Mulvey et al., 2013). Pain that persists for months is a topic of its own, covered under chronic pain.

In the shoulder, the NHS lists instability, sometimes because of hypermobility, as a cause of a tingling, numb or weak arm, or a shoulder that feels as if it clicks or locks (NHS). More common desk-related shoulder problems are in shoulder pain from computer work.

What helps, and what it means at a desk

There is no cure, and the main treatment is improving muscle strength and fitness so the joints are better protected. The NHS advises gentle, low-impact exercise to start with, since doing no exercise can make symptoms worse. It also advises not overextending your joints just because you can, and avoiding long spells of repetitive activity by taking regular breaks, which it calls pacing (NHS).

The research behind exercise is thin. A review found only four studies; people improved over time, but there was no convincing evidence that exercise beat a control group, or that any particular type of exercise was better (Palmer et al., 2014).

For a hypermobile person who sits all day, that advice translates into a few practical shifts:

• Strength over stretch. If you already reach the end of your range easily, stretching further is not the goal. The case for building strength is set out in Stretching or strengthening?, and isometric exercise is one way to load muscles without moving joints to their limits.
• Pacing. The NHS advice on regular breaks fits naturally with microbreaks during long spells of typing or mouse work.

When to see a doctor

See a GP if you think you, or your child, may have joint hypermobility syndrome. A GP may refer you to a physiotherapist, occupational therapist or podiatrist, and to a pain clinic if pain is severe (NHS).