Possible hypermobility

[MamaH2]

So I had my ds 2 years old to see a podiatrist for a separate reason who pointed out how flexible and bendy he is(never actually said hypermobility) but she said it would be the reason he is slightly behind in gross motor skills. She asked if he is in any pain and I said no because I didn't think he was.
When I've got home I've read up on hypermobility and it says it can cause night pain, he is up every night crying and is very restless but always worse after a busy day like nursery and now I'm not sure if he is in pain, anyone any experience?

He could be. Years ago when my eldest was waking a lot from what I thought might be pain as a 2-3 year old I tried giving him paracetamol before bed and it stopped him waking up. Once I knew it was pain I went to see our family gp to find out what was causing the pain. I have some hypermobility and so do one of my boys, I used to fall over a lot from it has never directly caused pain for me. But certain types of hypermobility can cause pain.

Thanks for your reply I will give this a try and see how he goes, yeah he falls over a lot too especially when running, thank you.

My kids are hypermobile - it can cause difficulties depending on where it is. DD has arms that bend backwards - no issue there but she is flat footed and that was a problem - we got her orthotics. DS didn't have flat feet but still needed orthotics - he developed pigeon chest when older- we got that fixed. Mainly we were advised to help them build muscle and stay as active as possible - certain sports favour hypermobility - like tennis for example.

I'm hypermobile and I have passed it on to my daughter. I knew as soon as I touched her she had it, as she has very soft velvety skin. I used to have terrible pain in my legs growing up, doctors still call it growing pains. We've found a bath or shower and leg massage with olive oil and using long tubigrip helps. Sports direct sell children's compression leggings and long tshirts, which my daughter wears under her uniform and under sports kit. It stops the muscles working so hard. You need to stretch as usually the opposite muscle to the stretchy one is stiff and overworked. Swimming is the best exercise and helps keep their core strong. Get a referral to paediatric physio for orthotics. Surgical appliances can make made to measure neoprene support wear and order joint supports. Look on the Elhers Danlos site, there are different types. You can manage this, PM me if I can help.

look here

Thank you for all the advice, she only checked his legs and ankles but I will ask for a referral to physio and I'll also look into getting some compression leggings for him to wear, thank you for the links I'll have a read through and see what else I can be doing to help him

Any chance he would be interested in ballet? When I was growing up in Monaco, the three quarters of my ballet academy had hypermobility and could effortlessly reach and maintain leg extensions and back arching , whilst I had to sweat and fight for.
My best friend had it and I was so jealous. She could lift her leg as if it was her arm.

I am telling you this to offer the other side of the medal. Some sports - gymnastics, ballet, diving - attract hyper mobile people because it will offer them an enormous advantage.

In my son's swimming team, there is a swimmer with hypermobility and he can extend his arms further than anyone on the team. He swims at a state level in Australia.

My understanding is that there are many levels and grades of hypermobility and the majority are unaffected or slightly advantaged by it. Who knows, maybe he will be the next Nureyev!

Thank you for this, I'm going to look in to some different sports for him to try and see what he likes.
I was already thinking about gymnastics, and swimming. I think once he's built his strength up he will benefit from something like that.

My girls are both hypermobile. It’s never been a serious issue (as is the case for overwhelming majority). Our eldest is seriously dyspraxic too, so not a natural choice when picking your sports team.

Youngest used it to her advantage when dancing and trained with BRB until university. Then she did cheerleading at university because the costumes were cute and she is small enough to throw. She’s never had anything more than bouts of Plantar Fasciitis and blisters from new pointe shoes.

The eldest took longer to find her sport. She was frustrated by tennis, gymnastics and hockey at school but found she was a perfectly competent swimmer and a very good fencer. Now in her twenties, she runs, swims and does yoga. She did get a few more minor injuries as she’d try desperately to improve at sports she was destined to be mediocre at. It wasn’t a serious issue though, she just had to try harder.