Bulletproof Your Hypermobile Body with Lindel Cain
/Welcome to the 2 Quick Win Exercises to get you feeling better if you are a floppy or hypermobile lady!
Hypermobility is an excessive range of movement in your joints, which is caused by an increased amount of collagen in your connective tissue. This makes your joints super “floppy” as they aren’t as supported. So what we find in Hypermobile patients is that your large muscles are overloaded as they are doing all the work, as the deep muscles around your connective tissue that help stabilise your joints aren’t working the way the were designed.
For me personally, I used to always have pain when I sat for too long. I hated driving as by the time I would get out of the car my back and hip were sore and achey and it would take until the next day to feel better. I had to quit playing Hockey as the constant bending forward and to the side resulted in relentless back pain. I rolled my ankles as soon as the ground was slightly uneven and every time I lifted my leg up in a generic Pilates class my hip would clunk and feel as if it was really unstable. The solution for me was to work 1:1 with a Certified Physio/Pilates instructor as they were really able to tailor the exercises to my body. For the first time in my life, not only was I still building visible strength in my large muscles, but I was also getting those deep little muscles to start firing, so my joints had way more support when I moved. Seeing these changes in my own body, I realised I needed to help other hypermobile people so they felt like they could be in control of their bodies again.
Here are 2 of my favourite exercises that I give to all my hypermobile patients to help them feel better fast and to get control of their bodies asap.
“Tricep scull crusher”
The muscles around the shoulder blades and thorax can get tight trying the whole time to give support but this can actually compress your trunk causing pain. The reason this happens is because the deep stabilising muscles aren’t doing the job they are suppose too giving the joints the support they require. This lack of support causes the large muscles to be ‘switched on’ the whole time compressing the thorax.
Step 1. Lying down on the floor with something light between both hands. Imagine your armpit muscles are completely melting or your pit muscles are soft.
Step 2. Bending at the elbow take your hands towards your face.
The idea is to move your arms without gripping or over tensing the muscles around the shoulder blades and back. Do this by keeping those arm pit muscles as soft as possible. You may feel yourself want to tense or squeeze your elbows towards your face.
Step 3. Slowly bring arms back slowly thinking 4 seconds up and 4 seconds down.
It’s okay if your arms are shaking!
Start with 2 x 6 twice daily then 2 x 10 the following week
“Static Wall Squat”
This awesome exercise helps improve Glute strength and control to give your legs more support when walking down the stairs. It will also help to protect your knees if you get pain while running. Stand in front of a wall, make sure your feet are hip width apart.
2. Place a theraband around your feet. The band encourages the glutes to engage better!
3. Squat down so that your back and glutes are resting into the wall.
4. Keep the pressure on the band to stop those knees from rolling inwards. I would suggest starting with your hips slightly higher than your knees. As it gets easier, lower down to about 90 degrees.
Hold for 15 seconds, relax and repeat 5x, once a day
