Riders with Hypermobility?

[ellemunster]

Hey, I was just wondering if any other riders have Hypermobility like I do. I suffer with my joints especially with them being so flexible - I'll be riding and my hip will pop out for example, creating a LOT of pain! My ankles are also very susceptible to cramping, pain and discomfort and can be very painful after dismounting. I find it hard to ride the taller horses - landing when getting down can be excruciating for my feet, and I can't get on very well from the ground which a lot of people find amusing much to my aggrivation, but I have solved that by getting on from a small wall or block. However, right now I have the best part-loan pony called Alfie Moon. He's perfect and he's only 14.2 which means getting on isn't a struggle and getting down doesn't hurt either (as long as its not an emergancy dismount!).

The family who I part-loan him off are absolutely fantastic as well, and know about my hypermobility so I don't feel guilty about not riding if I'm having a bad week! So far that hasn't happened though with Alf! I think that is due to my new private instructor though, Abi who also teaches Angela and Dan (the mother and son who I loan Alfie from). She has really focussed on my foot and ankle position - throughout my riding 'career' I have been told time and time again to have my heels down, Abi completely changed that around - she said my foot position is great when I don't force it, and that the more relaxed I am about my feet, the less strain I will put on my ankles - BOY was she right! I now have very little discomfort, save for the discomfort caused by my new boots as they have not been completely broken in yet!

I think a lot of damage is done by instructors shouting at people to force their heels down - especially to people with hypermobility like me as my ankles are already superbendy like elastic bands and by forcing them down it just makes the problem even worse. I'm only 17 right now and I was wondering if you guys know of any particular boots that are useful for giving both ankle AND knee support? My knees seem to be worsening especially going up and down stairs. I don't take any supplements either as I have been taken off my physiotherapy course due to missing an appointment that they rescheduled without sending a letter/calling to inform me of the change. Would codliver oil supplements & such help my joints, and should I start taking them now?

All I know of my hypermobility I have found out for myself through internet research, my physiotherapist was helpful but we only had a few meetings before the practice changed my appointment, didn't tell me, and took me off the program because of it. How do I get back onto the program as well, should I go through my GP? Sorry for the massive post, guys, but just looking for some help, answers & support. I have to say though that riding has definitely improved my hypermobility - my hips cause me far fewer problems these days and I can walk for longer without any pain, and I can even run for short periods of time. School as well did a lot of damage because I was forced & pressured into running the 800metre sports event every year until they had to listen to the notes supplied by doctors - it put so much pressure onto my ankles and knees and I think it has done a lot of damage. I stopped riding a few years ago and lost all my muscle weight, which basically meant I dropped from a healthy size 10 to a size 4 and my joints were exceptionally bad and painful, when I started up again the difference was immense and I will never ever stop now given the choice!

 

[coyote]

I have hyper-extension,same sort of thing,its not nice and i totally sympathise with you.
Two of my 4 children have it too,at their age it makes them extremely flexible,doing untold things with their elbows and knees that is yukky to watch,they think its hilarious to make mum feel ick.
I found as im getting old..er that all my joints click and my toes and knees grind and are very painfull,the doctors just say to stay mobile and active and my physio has the job of keeping the joints as stable as possible.
I would go through your Gp again and get back to the physio.

 

[Midori]

Hi There,

I would write to your physiotherapy department and complain about not having been informed of the changed appointment, Also send a copy to your PALS group (Patient Liason) who can sometimes help. At the same time go back to your GP, and give HIM a copy of the letter too, then he is fully aware and will probably be prepared to take up the matter for you.

Unfortunately, if you let 'em get away with it they will keep doing it (Like Horses, really!).

Kick up a stink. I used to be a nurse, so I know it can work!

cheers, midori

 

[atd87]

Hi, I also have hypermobility along with many other problems partly caused by it. I have only just managed to start riding after a break of around 5/6 years due to these problems and have found that the flexible stiurrps that are out now not only help my ankles but also my knees. How about just standard tubi grip bandges for your knee/ankles until your muscles have built back up? This is what I have found best - normal support bandges for my ankle rubbed. If you want any other advice just ask.

Also I had a mounting block made by a local shed maker, so that i don't need to strech at all to get onto the 16.1ish mare that I share, its 60cm high with 3 steps and only cost £40! Just an idea.

 

[Vicki&Milo]

Hi There,

I would write to your physiotherapy department and complain about not having been informed of the changed appointment, Also send a copy to your PALS group (Patient Liason) who can sometimes help. At the same time go back to your GP, and give HIM a copy of the letter too, then he is fully aware and will probably be prepared to take up the matter for you.

Unfortunately, if you let 'em get away with it they will keep doing it (Like Horses, really!).

Kick up a stink. I used to be a nurse, so I know it can work!

cheers, midori

I'd suggest going to your GP and trying to EXPLAIN whats happened before you start 'kicking up a stink' and I'm surprised a nurse suggested that, it is probably a case of human error and anyone can do that particularly when you are working long hours witha lot of stress, so I'd have a chat first and it may just sort it out (also a lot less hassle for you).

I think ATD has some really good suggestions, although I don't have specific problems with my joints I used to wear tubigrib on my knees and ankle when I rode as I used to get a lot of pain. In the end it turned out to be my school shoes!, once I went to college and wore trainers every day I never got pain again, but a physio should look at the way you walk etc. Mind you, if it is just becasue of your shoes they might not be able to tell once you're bare foot, so its worth looking at your shoes from behind to see if you're wearing one side down more than the other and if so mentioning this to your physio.

As for the riding, I was thinking that the type of saddle your riding in might make a difference, is it treed? I know its difficult with a loan pony, but a well fitting (for you as much as pony) treeless saddle will give more support around your hips (well the one I rode in did anyway) and allow less room for unusual and unwanted movement-however they can make your legs less stable, so its weighing it up I suppose.

 

[*Sez*]

Three years ago, I was diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which has caused a lot of mobility problems for me since I was nine years old. I'm twenty-three now. For a long time I took supplements such as glucosamine, cod liver oil and various others, but I personally didn't find any benefit, I imagine because hypermobility is caused by a faulty collegen gene which causes the soft tissues to be more like stretched chewing gum, rather than like elastic bands. Some people find that supplements help to alleviate related conditions such as rheumatism and other forms of arthritis or if there is bone damage within the joint, but there is, unfortunately, no cure. If you decide to take supplements, remember that it can take a month or two for it to start taking effect, so make sure you test them out for at least three months to see if there is any benefit.
For physiotherapy, your GP can re-refer you

I find mounting easiest, like you, to do it from a decent sized wall or block that means I can get as close to level with my horse's back as possible, as it saves me putting undue pressure on my hips, hands and shoulders trying to mount from a lower height. I've often had dislocations and subluxations when riding, and if I'm not able to relocate it in the saddle, I dismount onto hay bales. A few times, I've had to have a few people help me get out of the saddle, especially if it's my hip that has popped out, but fortunately my horse is very patient with me, and I have close friends and family willing to help me out.


My ankles are very unstable, and I found the best thing was jodhpur boots with half chaps over the top. Long boots have never seemed to provide the same stability, and I often end up dislocating my ankle trying to get out of them! It sounds like your instructor is either not very knowledgeable about hypermobility or not very sympathetic. I have accepted that due to my poor proprioception and the fact that the muscles in my legs already work over-time trying to hold the joints together, I will never have a perfect lower leg and foot position. We don't dwell on it, so long as I feel secure in the saddle and can still make effective use of my legs in order to give aids. The only thing that my RI thought would help might be symmetry straps, but it was excrutiatingly painful on my knees and I felt very unbalanced with them. Rather than a short term aid to help me learn where my legs would go, they would have to be a permanent addition to my tack because once they were taken off, my legs would have just gone back to where they were comfortable.

Have you seen the Hypermobility Syndrome Association? Their website is www.hypermobility.org There's a thread on there for horse-riders and they have loads of great information about living with the condition.

 

[ellemunster]

first off, thank you so much for the responses guys, it's really interesting to see how many other people hypermobility affects!

coyote - thats what my physio said as well, keep as fit and active as possible I'm getting much fitter now I have to say lol!
midori - I'll definitely go to my GP again and see if he can get me back on the program, it's only local as well so hopefully things should go okay! thanks for the advice
atd - tubigrip is a really good idea so thank you so much for suggesting it to me! mum is going to get me some tomorrow and I'm going to wear it every time I ride should help definitely in the long run I hope.
vicki - it's made worse by the fact I have terribly flat feet, so no matter what type of shoe I wear my ankles rarely get the support needed and the orthopaedic insoles are stupidly expensive. alfie's owner has been thinking about a treeless saddle so might be something I could contribute towards - I've always liked the look of them.
sez - my physio said the same thing about the supplements, and I think I might as well give them a go - it's only a couple of quid at the end of the day and it's best to start looking after everything now I guess! my current instructor is amazing about my hypermobility and like I said has completely changed my ankle position so that they are relaxed in the stirrup and not being forced down like my other past instructors have told me to do, so my ankles are much better, though still pretty clicky after I've been riding for an hour lol! have seen the association and am a member they were so helpful when I was first diagnosed. thanks again for all the suggestions and advice.

 

[atd87]

ellemunster, I also have very flat feet and the muscles in one ankle are very weak from a previous very bad brake. Like I said I have the flexible stirrups, after riding in normal stirrups for half an hour to one hour I struggle to walk after, but with these I can walk normally. You can get them from Robinsons, but I think a lot of local tack shops do them too for around £25, it just means that as my ankle moves in the stirrup it is constantly supported but not hindered or forced.

 

[oinkmoooink]

If you have flat feet, are you able to see a foot person (cant remember what their called) they should be able to make you special in soles to encourage you to use the right muscles when you walk or something...

Im borderline hypermobile, which has made be borderline hypersenstive. I hate to think what its like for people who are more hypermobile than me as i find it horrible. It mostly effects my whole back neck and shoulders, so i cant really help about shoes etc...
Last year, i was going to the chairo about twice a week, and he really helped, as it got to the point where everytime i rode by back went cxompletly out of place and id be in an awful lot of pain for the next 2 weeks. Then go back to average pain...
If you can, then get some help from your gp, my gp seems to think im a hypocondriac, and i dont tihnk be believes in hypermobility, and basically makes fun of me whenever i go to see him, so ive lost faith in gps in general, though im sure hes just a difficult type.

Sorry to hyjack the thread a little, but does anyone know any herbal remedies or anytihng which actually work? Im too young to have decent painkillers, and paracetomol and ibruprofen dont do anything.

 

[atd87]

oinkmoooink I take (be ready for a long list)
*Cod Liver oil
*Glucosamine
*Mulit vits and minerals (even though I eat a lot of fruit and veg but was advised to be sure I get everything needed)
*Echinacea (because I have a lowered immune system), this is taken for two months, then a break of one month and start again

I do feel that these have all helped - when I started taking the first three I was on very strong painkillers (any stronger and I would have been on morphine) and whilst I am still on these I no longer need anything stronger, which is what they were looking at before. And the last, I constantly had ear and other head infections basicly all year, now hardly have any. But everyone is effected differently, so you can only try and see what works for you.

I also know how you feel about doctors, I have no faith in any of the GP's from my surgery - they have all told me that my many problems is psyological. The otherthing is I have found since I got taken off Ibruprofen and put on Diclofenac the pain has been alot better, may just be worth talking to your doctor about it.

 

[oinkmoooink]

Yup apparently i suffer from stress! And he talks to me like im about 3...my dad thinks i exagerate it too, and my sister pulled a muscle in her should quite badly the other day and was milking it for all it was worth...i restrained myself from explaining to her that ALL the musles in my back feel like that CONSTANTLY.
I was tkaing vits for my immune system- but then it got all in the papers aobut how they were gonna kill you, so i stopped
And im meant to take omega 3 supplements...cause im veggie so dont eat meat ro fish which probably makes amters worse. But i hadnt thought about it for my hypermobility, i was told to take them for my skin
Is glucosamine like a glucose supplement? and echinacea...i think i was tkaing that at some point...
i really ought to do my stretches too *need to help myself*
hijacking it again0 any bosy know any really good stretches? I have sme im meant to do, to help push muscles back in place, but it hurts so much i cant bring myself to do them as much as i should...
And thankyou, i get the tail ends of viruses going around quite a lot, but fortunatly rarely get the full on thing, just little cocktails of them

Oh something i meant to say- Pilates are meant to help alot ( i can find time to do it) andthere was sometihng else which i have forgotten...i think in this months issue for your horse, there were some exercises for keeping your back healthy with a horsey lifestyle if anyone interested...

 

[atd87]

I was tkaing vits for my immune system- but then it got all in the papers aobut how they were gonna kill you, so i stopped

Well I was advised by both doc's and nurses, so what can you do??

Is glucosamine like a glucose supplement?

Nope, it is normally made for extracts from shell fish, but now there is a veggie version. It helps to protect the tissue around the joints.

 

[ellemunster]

no worries about hijacking this is all stuff I wanted to know

atd - will have a look at those stirrups!

 

[*Sez*]

I find the bendy stirrups awful. It just seems to increase the instability in my ankles and knees, so I find it much easier to use normal ones.

Echinacea is fabulous! My immune system is shot to hell because of the amounts and strengths of painkillers that I take, so I try to take echinacea regularly, and I drink masses of raspberry and echinacea tea when I have a cold coming on. It really makes a difference for me.

For any kinds of stretching or stretching activities PLEASE see a qualified physiotherapist who understands hypermobility. Hypermobile bodies are so prone to injury that it really isn't worth getting it wrong.

 

[ellemunster]

have been told to stay away from pilates & yoga, but have been told to swim as much as possible.

 

[atd87]

Due to the many other illness's I have, I am cannot swim, or do most other exercises, I thought 5 or 6 years ago I would end up spending the rest of my life in a wheelchair. So can't really comment on this.

 

[*Sez*]

have been told to stay away from pilates & yoga, but have been told to swim as much as possible.

I used to go to Tai Chi regularly, having been told by the lady who runs the sessions that I would find it "really beneficial" and found it frustrating that I kept hurting myself, and getting severe stabbing pains in my legs and feet. I regularly couldn't do anything for around two days afterwards, so I decided to have a chat with my physiotherapist, who was horrified that I was doing exercises that were essentially deliberate hyperextension of my joints. I was told to stay away from tai-chi, yoga and anything like that, but to swim and attend hydrotherapy when I felt up to it, as the water provides a gentle cushion and to continue gentle riding. I also have several exercises that involve very gentle and controlled movements to work on my core stability. Saying that, it was advice based on how my hypermobility affects me - we're all affected differently, to different degrees and in different ways, so I tend to go on the basis of doing as much as I feel capable of and taking the advice of people who don't understand the condition with a pinch of salt! Anything that I'm not certain about, I discuss with someone whose opinion I trust.

 

[monsoon1983]

I am also a sufferer of Hypermobility - actually it have come in pretty handy in 2002!

it affects my ankles, knees, spine, elbows and fingers, luckerly everywhere else seems to be effected a lot less.

At the age of six my doctor said i should take up something such as ballet as it is well documented that ballet strengthens muscles and should help, so until i was 12 i danced - even got up to points (they really hurt!)

Then my mother bought me horse riding lessons and i was given a choice horse riding or ballet - horses won and my doctor didn't approve.

I always wear ankle and knee supports and i am very much a seat rider, i always use jod boots and chaps, i did try long boots and didn't get on with them.

Mounting and dismounting has always been painful and i have always tried to dismount onto a block or soft surface.

In 2002 i was involved in a nasty car accident, i was stationary and was t-boned on the drivers door by a car doing about 60-70mph, it should have killed me - well it did technically, my heart stopped in the ambulance, even the accident investigator said it should have snapped my neck and spine and i should have been at least paralysed, it took my back and neck two year sor physo and acupuncture to recover, but i'm here walking and now even riding again which was never expected.

Hypermobility is a tad irritating sometimes - how many people do you know that can twist their ankle and end up with a spiral fracture and be in a cast for 8 weeks

I guess you could say i owe my life to Hypermobility, without it i may not be here today, i also found out out i have an extra vertebrae in my spine i thought i was a freak but then i found out that its not that uncommon

 

[cesa]

Wow my hats off to you guys! I also suffer from hypermobility but definitely not as bad as some of you!! I dislocated my knee when I was 14 and that's when they found out what was wrong with me but since then haven't had a proper dislocation. I've had a few close calls with my hips, shoulders and knees and I do get bad foot cramp and pains in my knees particularly. They really crunch going up and down the stairs - yeuch!!

In general my condition doesn't bother me while riding. Occasionally I have cramp or pain in my hips or ankles but most the time they're fine. Mounting and dismounting really isn't an issue and my physiotherapist recommended I try pilates to build up my core strength to help my muscles to become nice and strong and the joints less likely to dislocate!

I suppose we're all different aren't we. But good for all of you who still go horse riding despite being hypermobile!!

 

[ina.click]

WoW, so thats how you call it!

I have hipermobiliy too, except that I did not know it has a name and usually I was just being told I'm "elastic"
I can pop out my shoulder blades and swing them around as if I had wings - which scares the crap out of people, sadly
I can also place my ankles on my neck problem is I cant get them off without help so I haven't tried that in a long time.
My pinky toes can be at a 90 degree from my foot.
And I am constantly twisting my ankles while ...walking, especially on high heels shoes.
Good part: I can scratch wherever I want to, any inch of my body is whithin my hand reach
Bad part: I keep twisting all sorts of ...stuff like limbs mostly. And now that I have read this thread i realize even more surprises await.

Edit: So...it's not a quality? I was actually quite proud of being hipermobile

Actually at last riding session my RI shouted amused : "How on earth do you twist those feet like that, I cant do it"
It seems that at rising trot, because I seem to have rubber ankles, my feet are...twisting. It doesn't hurt though.

Edit 2: I click too! My knees click, my elbows click, ankles click, fingers click, every joint clicks. Neck and spine too. I used to be the main amusement point at the sports class since 20 push-ups = 20 clicks and so on