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More Signs of Hypermobility

Last updated on February 28, 2020 By Dan Baumstark, MSPT, CHT 2 Comments

woman exhibiting hypermobility with her knees
Take a look at the above picture. Some people, usually women, have knees that tend to “bend backwards” in stance. This is an overt sign of hyper-mobility, or excessive extensibility, of the joints.

The problem that often arises from this phenomenon is what we call “resting on your ligaments”. The woman in this picture can rely on this position to stand without using much muscle action at all. The quadriceps and hamstrings in particular do not need to engage in order to keep her erect. She is in fact resting on the posterior ligamentous structures of her knees.

One could argue that this is an efficient way of standing. It is efficient if you are considering how much energy the person is expending. The woman in the picture could probably stand in this fashion for an hour without much difficulty. The long term problem with standing in this fashion has to do with overall muscle strength.

In terms of long term health, we do want to use our functional muscles often. Stronger muscles that are utilized protect the joints by absorbing shock. Stronger leg muscles also allow us to ascend and descend stairs correctly, avoiding painful compensations.

If you are hypermobile in your knees, try “unlocking” them as you stand. This will force you to use your leg muscles to keep you standing. Build up your endurance slowly!

Filed Under: Featured, Injury Prevention



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About Dan Baumstark, MSPT, CHT

Dan is a licensed Physical Therapist in the District of Columbia, license #PT2916. He has a Masters of Science degree in Physical Therapy from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Dan specializes in sports medicine & upper extremity rehabilitation. He is a Certified Hand Therapist, certified by the American Society of Hand Therapists (initial certification date 11/6/2004, certification #1041100023). Dan has extensive continuing education in manual therapy from the Michigan State University School of Osteopathic Medicine.
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Discussion

  1. Lost1234 says

    January 1, 2015 at 8:13 pm

    Hi!

    So do you mean to say that if I force myself to unlock my knees as I stand, I will slowly build the muscles needed to stand correctly and that would make my knees NOT bend backwards with a little bit of time??

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Dan Baumstark, MSPT, CHT says

      January 3, 2015 at 7:20 pm

      Your knees are always going to have the flexibility to hyper-extend. I have never seen cases where the patient’s knees get to the point where they physically no longer go into hyperextension whereas once they did.

      The idea here is that the hyperextension position is a position that facilities weakness. If you can train yourself to stand with the knees slightly unlocked, you are probably better off in terms of muscular stability. The more stability that you have, the less likely you are to injure yourself.

      Reply

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