Hypermobility - HELP - 7 yrs old

[Hehx3]

Hello mums, my son has hypermobility in his hips, what can I access please? Any experience with good treatments? I must help him but I dont know how :-(

Hi @Hehx3. I also have a son with hypermobile joints. A good place to start would be physiotherapy with a professional who is aware of this issue. OT may be helpful. Does your son have any other hypermobile joints?

Does he dislocate frequently?

Thank you for your replies. Not sure about over joints- he has autism and speech delay and I have troubles assessing it only on observation. I will have a look around for some physio.

His walk can be very "wonky" especially if he sat for a bit. Would it be possible his hips are dislocating? (Sounds scary and painful).

@Hehx3 sounds like physio assessment, possibly OT could be helpful.

It's unlikely his hips are dislocating. Hips are more likely to sublux.. ie slightly shift out and back in again. Properly out and you'd know about it!

A physio assessment would be a good idea but to be honest not a lot is DONE for hypermobile kids.. mostly a bit of advice on not W sitting and doing enough exercise to build a bit of core strength. Sometimes orthotics are useful.

Three of mine are hypermobile.. the youngest,, who also has autism and learning disabilities as become less so with age... he used to be a jelly, didn't walk til 2, was literally foldable. Still wears afos (leg braces) and has a very odd walk, but doesn't seem bothered by it.

My girls however have not grown out of it, the opposite, with dislocations (many) and other health problems which eventually led to them being diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.. both (in their 20s now) have some pretty difficult health issues, on multiple meds and under multiple specialists. The girls are hypermobile in every joint and bits literally pop out ..dd2 dislocated her shoulder rolling over in bed once!
Mine have all had physio input, as kids it was usually in a 6 week block and we were given exercises to do.

OTs can also be useful ..ds2 had a wheelchair as he couldn't walk very far when younger and that came via the OT

Thank you for your post its very useful. Im sorry to hear you all had those problems. I hope they are happy though. I will be looking for Pediatrics physio near me sounds like a place start this journey.

The exercises physio gave for my son were to strengthen his core muscles. In the mean time see if any childrens pilates videos are on you tube. He mustn't do any exercises that hurt till you see a professional - but they're all "jump like a frog" "stretch out like an elephant" so should be ok.

Try to make sure he doesn’t do W sitting or walk with toes pointing in

Swimming is really excellent for core strength (which will help with hypermobile hips), so is bike riding or a two wheel scooter. Wobble cushion maybe. High kneeling position.

I have a son with severe hyper mobility and was advised to do swimming and yoga which we do weekly now and I have definitely seen an improvement in his posture and ability to walk without tripping constantly!