I have known of hypermobility (or double jointedness as it was called when I was younger) all my life and finally have got round to posting on here.
My older sister was born with HMS (the top part of her feet were flat back against her legs) as well as very flexible fingers, wrists etc, however she was also born with a Congenital Dislocation of her left hip (she had no socket and her femur was ? in shape). Thankfully it was picked up extremely early and one of the top surgeons in the UK for fixing such things at the time worked at a hospital not too far away (it was the worst one he had ever seen). As she was in plaster from the top of her chest down she developed using her feet like hands and was able to pull books out of the bookcase and turn the taps on. Due to the HMS it was harder for the surgeon to correct her hip as the looser tendons etc meant he had to splice and turn her femur more than he would have normally. This took most of the first 4 years of her life and she did have to learn to walk a number of times but by the time she was 4 1/2 she was walking normally, albeit with one leg shorter than the other which pretty much resolved itself over the years with lots of swimming and growth in general (she hasn't had to wear built up shoes for over 25 years and is now in her 30's). The surgeon is the one who diagnosed the HMS in both my sister and me (he never saw our younger sister) and when he checked it appears to come from our father. She has one child who developed normally, crawling, walking etc however there were a couple of instances a few years ago where pulling her up by her arms dislocated her elbow. Apart from that there is no apparant HMS but she is quite flexible.
My younger sister appeared to be the less flexible out of the 3 of us however her daughter who is now 3 years old has been diagnosed at being at the extreme end of HMS (with the possibility of some other developmental issues). She crawled at about 8mths but it took until she was about 2 1/2 year to get her walking properly. She could walk before that with help but she would stick her bum out and lock her knees, she is quite a tall child which didn't help. If she was on her knees she could 'walk' quite well. She also had digestive issues which made her constipated and her speech isn't as advanced as other children as her muscles are so loose. She is currently having physio and speech therapy on a monthly basis.
Myself I have HMS, especially in my arms as my elbows bend further than most and I can turn my arms right round (a good party trick to freak people out!
). My neck will turn further than most peoples and I have managed to dislocate my thumb just from pushing myself up off the ground. I was also told that I had chondromalacia patellae as a child which from reading other people's posts seems to have been a common diagnosis from doctors. I will turn my ankles but they never swell or bruise like most people's would and I can't wear shoes with any more than a couple of inches of heel as it hurts my feet after a very short time and I also don't feel stable. I do bruise quite easily and they seem to appear around places such as my knees after I've done exercise even though I've not hit anything. I can pretty much place my hands on the floor but this is not as good as it used to be as I've managed to put my back out half a dozen times over the past 13 years usually when I've been lifting things that are too heavy but now I have a small child I have to lift him which unfortunately put my back out yet again earlier this year. I tend to shift my pelvis to the left and crunch up the vertabrae in the middle of my back pinching my sciatic nerve down my left leg. I didn't have any problems being pregnant although I did wear a support to help carry my bump as I got bigger and carried quite low. I had a quick delivery with my son which apparantly is another trait of HMS and have lots of stretch marks even though I put cream on religiously the whole way through.Now my son is 13 1/2 mths old he has never crawled and always hated being on his front. As soon as he could flip himself over he did but it then took him quite a while to master rolling. He has never pushed his front up with his arms extended or even tried to bring his knees up. A little while ago he mastered managing to sit up from lying down so now he gets around with a combination of rolling and lying on his back with his knees bent and pushing himself along like a caterpillar to where he wants to go and then works his way into a sitting position using one arm. I've tried to get him into the crawling position but he just doesn't want to take his weight on his arms. He will bear his weight slightly when you stand him up but only for a few seconds and then he wants to sit down again and he's never bounced on his legs or moved his feet independently of one another. He does appear to be much more flexible than other children and can sit on the floor and lean forward and touch it with his nose and his fingers bend further back than most. He also makes circular motions with his arms and feet especially when he gets excited. His arms, hands and feet can get very cold in the winter months and first thing in the morning can be purple in colour. This doesn't seem to bother him but I don't like it as it can take ages for them to get to a normal pink. I've finally managed to get our Health Visitor to acknowledge that he's not doing the things he should be as he doesn't seem to have the strength to pull himself up so she is going to refer him. It doesn't help the fact that he is a big child as he is already the height and weight of the average 18mth old so I know that isn't going to help him gain the strength he needs. It also doesn't help the fact that where I live I've got friends with children of the same age who have crawled and are now walking and I compare my son to them and feel that he is missing out on his learning and exploring of the world.
I know I've just got to wait for the referal to come through but I was wondering if there is anyone who has had similar things with their children as I feel frustrated that I don't know what to do to try and help him to the next stage of movement.
Many thanks x
