A few data points:

[conuly]

1. When I was a child, my knee used to lock up sometimes if I had my leg bent. I couldn't open it, and it felt like it had slid out of joint. I still get twitchy if I have to crouch down for more than a few seconds. The last such incident probably occurred in my 20s.

2. I've always had weak ankles, prone to twisting.

3. A few years ago I sat down in the Bronx Zoo and when I stood up again I popped my hip, causing periodic recurring pain and aches - notably this week, where even sitting still on the bus was too much.

4. My sister used to be able to clasp her hands behind her back and bring them above her head to her front without letting go.

5. Yesterday I witnessed my mother casually bringing her foot up to her face to demonstrate that she could. She does that periodically, and at this point I suddenly put together points 1 - 4 and realized - THIS IS ALL HER FAULT! She's got some sort of freaky hypermobility genes, and she passed them on to us, and she and Jenn got the fun parts* while all I got were the twisted ankles and the hip pain! That's utterly unfair, and I told her so right then and there, too. I got completely cheated somewhere.

Edit: I'd forgotten, but well into my teens I used to enjoy sitting with my legs in a W because it was fun, and likewise I can still catch my foot in my hand behind my back while leaning over. (Though not right now, because my hip is owie.)

* Jenn's flexibility isn't all fun and games, but I'm fairly certain that our mother hasn't suffered one day over this. She doesn't even appear to have any arthritis, and I know that runs in her family.

Comments

[marahmarie]

I have very slight hypermobility - I can twist my arms to put my hands palm up (instead of like, twisting my wrist). Apparently most people can't do this because their elbows stop their arms from twisting all the way around. Mine don't.

And I heal slooooowly, especially skin or flesh wounds. And have had bad/weak ankles for as long as I can recall, which is sort of a PITA when your favorite things are walking, running and dancing (had to give up running by my late teens).

But outside of that I'm weirdly not flexible/on the EDS spectrum at all - forex, I can't do a split, which to me seems like a bare-minimum "more flexible than the average" move.

Which has led me to wonder if hypermobility can literally be limited to a certain part or parts of the body *recalls girlfriend in high school who could wiggle ears. I don't remember her having other flexible feats besides that one*

Oh, and I used to do the W, too. Up until recently (the last few years) I also used to lay flat on floors, then throw my legs behind my head to "relax" (it used to feel really good, something I'd done since childhood) so in that sense there's some added flexibility too, but probably still not enough to write home about.

[conuly]

Oh, yeah, I could never do a split either, not even when I was taking dance class as a kid.

[marahmarie]

And it's like, you either can do one or you can't, as it can't be taught. Which I know because one of my super-limber elementary school friends tried to teach me in 4th grade and I just couldn't get it no matter how hard I tried. I'd hurt from trying).

[altamira16]

I have fairly mobile shoulder joints but cannot do splits.

[marahmarie]

Yeah, the split thing might just be me splitting hairs (since I can't split anything else, lol). It was the main reason why I never made HS cheerleading. I knew I had some hypermobility so I guess I just sort of obsessed over "why is it I can do this but not that?". Which is probably a good question just from "the more you know" perspective but one I don't think science has an answer to.