Joint hypermobility

Hypermobility, also known as double-jointedness, describes joints that stretch farther than normal. For example, some hypermobile people can bend their thumbs backwards to their wrists, bend their knee joints backwards, put their leg behind the head or perform other contortionist 'tricks'. It can affect one or more joints throughout the body. Hypermobility, also known as double-jointedness, describes joints that stretch farther than normal. For example, some hypermobile people can bend their thumbs backwards to their wrists, bend their knee joints backwards, put their leg behind the head or perform other contortionist 'tricks'. It can affect one or more joints throughout the body. Hypermobile joints are common and occur in about 10 to 25% of the population. It is usually not associated with any symptoms but a minority of people develop other conditions caused by their unstable joints; in such cases, it is known as hypermobility syndrome. Until new diagnostic criteria were introduced, Hypermobility Syndrome was sometimes often considered identical to Ehlers–Danlos syndrome hypermobile type/EDS Type 3. As no genetic test can identify or separate either conditions and because of the similarity of the diagnosis criteria and recommended treatments, many experts recommend they should be recognized as the same condition until further research is carried out.