Unstable Joints

I think the word “hypermobile” sounds kind of like I have a superpower. I kind of thought it was cool. What is really going on is that my ligaments are too stretchy and weak, and for me, my muscle tone is also too low. Not every hypermobile person has the low muscle tone, but I do.

I have not found a lot of herbs that keep my joints in place. That takes work. When I was in college, I did my first weight lifting. Low weights, lots of reps. I stopped falling. My knees stopped hurting. I had more energy. Then some college boys came to give me advice and added a lot of weight to my reps. It hurt me. It took weeks to recover.

What I have found over the years is that when I do no weight / resistance exercises I pay. So, I do them. I have found three things that work really well:

1. Pilates. Tell your pilates instructor you are hypermobile. I found the pilates reformer is one of the best exercise machines ever. It was designed to help soldiers recover from serious injuries.

2. Bands. This one my daughter swears by. She uses high quality bands like these. She has built up from the weakest band and now confidently uses the toughest one. These bands are great for travel and building up strength at home.

3. Opposite yoga. Years ago, my yoga instructor Peter Cairns, who taught a different, slower, more methodical form of yoga than I had experienced, started to teach me what I think of as opposite yoga. Instead of focusing on the stretch, he focused on building the pose carefully. He pulled me back from those mega-stretches I can do and taught me how to find the ligaments and msucles that hold my joints together and strengthen them. He has low concern for stretchy “perfect” postures and high concern for building up the strength to do the basic moves well. I had a knee that I thought would need replacing and he taught me how to build up the muscles around the knee cap to hold it in place better. Then I took a hiking trip in Ireland on that knee and it worked perfectly. Sometimes it takes him a month or two to figure out exactly how to fix things, but he always does. If you like yoga, find a really experienced teacher! Yep, most people were born with stable joints that don’t fall apart if they take a step or move something wrong. But I have what I have. Figuring out how to improve stability is a big part of the work.

In addition, there are some herbs that have been known to build muscle and stabilize bones. Some of the things recommended to me include:

· Chickweed, which is rich in vitamins and minerals and known for its anti-inflammatory properties.

· Lams Quarter has a lot of calcium and has been used to build bones.

· Nettle is something I drink as a tea and eat as a pesto. It is one of the most nutritive plants!1

1 Stafne, Gigi, ND. Green Wisdom School of Natural and Botanical Medicine.

This information is not intended to take the place of personalized medical counseling, diagnosis and/or treatment by a trained physician. Herbs and other botanicals are presently classified by the Food and Drug Administration as foods, not as medicines.