Hypermobile joints

[antgent]

Hi Coach,

My younger brother has been diagnosed with hypermobile joint syndrome.
He is pretty under weight at 6'3 and #165 (23 year old).
He wants to get big and strong but keeps injuring him self doing body building type routines (which he and his physio attribute to the hypermobile joints)
I have tried to get him onto SS / GOMAD but he is scared he will mess up his back/shoulders/knees which he seemed injure all the time doing the BB routines.

Have you had any experience training people who have this problem?
Am I wrong to tell him to harden up, eat big, and do SS?

[Mark Rippetoe]

He has to learn not to hyperextend his joints. God knows what weird shit he's been doing, and his physiotherapist won't know any more about it that he does. But I assure you that his joints will tighten up if he gains 40 lbs.

[Chickdiver]

First off- I am not a coach, trainer, or any other sort of professional in this field, I am, however, also hypermobile (btw... it tends to be genetic, my father is hypermobile as well). There is absolutely no reason your brother can't lift and get big- I would add a second caution on not hyperextending. Get someone who really knows what they are doing to teach him proper form. Once you learn what not hyperextending feels like- it's easy not to do it (and it will help in just general "doing things"). That isn't a guarantee he won't get hurt- I've had 3 surgeries to fix injuries directly related to hypermobility- I am also a very active person. In every instance being strong going in to surgery has lessened the recovery time, and knowing what "work" is has made rehab easier and more effective.

[Kyle Schuant]

My fiancee has the same issue. This causes her pain mostly in shoulder but sometimes in hip as the muscles tighten up to do the job the ligaments aren't doing. The pain then stops her from doing things like squats (putting her shoulders back hurts). Were she a client, I would just say, "try it for a month and when you get stronger the pain will stop," but you can't say things like that to your woman, "harden up" doesn't go down well.

Which is all a way of saying that I don't think there's any other way but working through it, but I wish there was...