Moving With Confidence: What Our New Study Taught Us About the Integral Movement Method (IMM) for Hypermobility

By Jeannie Di Bon, Movement Therapist and Founder of The Zebra Club, and Catherine Nation, MS, PhD

(HMSA note: We are delighted to share this information from our great friend Jeannie Di Bon. Watch this space as her new book is out in November.)

If you’ve ever felt unsure about how to exercise safely with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) or Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder (HSD), you’re not alone. There are no official or widely accepted guidelines for hypermobility physiotherapy or exercise. That’s why this new study is so important for the management of EDS and HSD.

Through years of working as a movement therapist, I developed the Integral Movement Method (IMM), a gentle, whole-body approach to movement that’s specifically designed for people with hypermobility-related conditions.

For this study, we joined with leading EDS/HSD physiotherapy experts Dr. Leslie Russek and Dr. Jane Simmonds to run a pilot study on my method, which is now published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Movement Therapy and Bodywork

We recruited people online who had either hEDS or HSD to take part in my 8-week online IMM-based movement program, Strengthen Your Hypermobile Core. They completed surveys throughout the process with open ended questions about how the program impacted them, emotionally, physically and mentally.

We then did a qualitative analysis of the survey responses. This is a systematic way of reading through people's written survey responses to identify patterns and common themes in what they said to understand the main topics people care about or experienced in the program. We do have a quantitative study, the numbers and percentages soon to be published.

Participants told us they felt: Stronger and more stable, More connected to their bodies by learning to listen to subtle cues, not just push through. They felt validated and safe because the program was clearly designed by someone who understood EDS/HSD. They also appreciated the accessibility provided by a digital program.

One person said: “I love that Jeannie points out the watchpoints for hypermobile people, which no other exercise programme does. Most make us hyperextend and go too far in range of movement which isn’t helpful for us, but this one didn’t do that.”

Another shared: “I felt safe doing the exercises.”

Of course, it wasn’t all easy. Some participants still struggled with symptoms like fatigue or flare-ups from other conditions. A few said they found it hard to know how to adapt certain movements. This is something I am constantly refining in response to feedback. In fact, it was with the help of this feedback that I created The Zebra Club. It has different levels and categories of classes to meet our changing needs.

This is the first study to explore how an EDS-specific, online Pilates-based program actually feels to participants. It’s an important step in bridging the gap between clinical exercise prescription and what it’s like to live in a hypermobile body every day.

It also helps show the wider medical and rehabilitation communities that we need movement approaches tailored to our specific needs. That safety, pacing, and validation are just as important as strength or flexibility. And, online programs can work when they’re done with care and understanding by someone who really does understand the condition.

You can try the IMM for yourself via The Zebra Club app, where we focus on movement that supports rather than stresses your body. And if you’re working with a physiotherapist or rehab professional, share this study with them! It’s one more tool to help build bridges between patient experience and clinical practice.

You can find more information at the Zebra Club website here