What hypermobility means
Hypermobility simply means joints that move beyond the usual range. It is often screened with the Beighton score, which looks at the little fingers, thumbs, elbows, knees and the ability to place both palms flat on the floor with straight legs. Somewhere around one in five children scores in the hypermobile range, and it is more common in girls and in some ethnic groups.
Most of those children have no symptoms whatsoever. Many are drawn towards gymnastics, dance, swimming and diving, where a large range of motion is a genuine advantage.
When it starts causing trouble
The problems appear when the available range outgrows the control available to manage it. A knee that hyperextends 15 degrees needs the quadriceps and hamstrings to work harder to hold a landing position. An ankle that rolls easily needs stronger calves and better balance to stay stable on grass.
That is why symptoms often surface in adolescence, during a growth spurt or when training volume jumps. Nothing about the joints changed; the demand on them did.
- Aching in the knees, ankles, hips or back after long days on their feet or after training.
- A sense of joints giving way, clicking or feeling unstable rather than sharply painful.
- Poor endurance in positions that need holding, such as standing tall in dance or holding shape in gymnastics.
- Recurring low-grade ankle sprains or repeated flare-ups in the same joint.
Why more stretching is usually the wrong answer
Hypermobile athletes often feel tight, because muscles work overtime trying to provide stability the ligaments are not providing. It feels like a flexibility problem, so the instinct is to stretch. Stretching into an already large range tends to give short-term relief and no lasting change.
The work that helps is strength through range and control at end range: slow, loaded, deliberate exercise where the joint learns to be strong in the positions it naturally reaches.
What training should look like
| Priority | Why | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Strength through full range | Builds capacity where the joint actually lives | Slow split squats, Nordic curls or hamstring bridges, calf raises with a pause |
| Control at end range | Teaches stopping short of collapse into hyperextension | Single-leg balance, controlled step-downs, tempo holds |
| Landing mechanics | Reduces repeated stress on knees and ankles | Drop-to-land, then hop-and-stick, before rebound work |
| Trunk and hip endurance | Postural fatigue drives much of the aching | Side planks, dead bugs, hip abduction work |
| Load management | Symptoms usually track total weekly volume | Counting all sessions across school, club and dance |
Priorities for a hypermobile young athlete.
Hypermobility spectrum disorder and hEDS
A smaller group of children have hypermobility alongside persistent pain, fatigue, frequent injuries and sometimes symptoms elsewhere in the body such as dizziness on standing or digestive problems. This is where terms like hypermobility spectrum disorder and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome come in.
These are clinical diagnoses made by a doctor, not something to assume from a bendy thumb. If that broader picture sounds familiar, start with the GP. The exercise principles stay similar but the pacing needs to be gentler and progressions slower, and other specialists may need to be involved.
The message for parents and coaches
Hypermobility is a starting point, not a limitation. A hypermobile athlete who strength trains consistently often ends up with a rare combination of range and control. What they need is patience with progressions, respect for total weekly load, and coaching that rewards controlled positions rather than the deepest possible one.