Hypermobility & Pilates: Building Strength, Stability and Confidence with Sue

Season 3 Episode 13 · July 2026 · 65 min

Listen to the full Spotify episode here

If you've got a hypermobile client who looks incredible when they stretch, that's actually the problem, not the win. Locking out a joint or sinking into an oversized range doesn't build strength — it fakes it, and it wears the joint down over time. Around one in four people are hypermobile, and most of them have no idea their "flexibility" is quietly setting them up for pain, exhaustion, and injury. In this episode, I sit down with Sue Nash to talk about what hypermobility really is, why the usual advice to "just stretch it out" can make things worse, and how Pilates can rebuild stability from the joint outward.

ABOUT Sue Nash

Sue Nash is the founder of Turning Tide Pilates, based in New Zealand. A former dancer and choreographer, Sue moved into Pilates in her late thirties looking for a sustainable way to stay strong as she aged, and has now taught for over 20 years — bringing a hypermobile body of her own to the work. Visit her at turningtidepilates.co.nz.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

• Locking a joint isn't strength — it's a workaround. Hypermobile clients often lock elbows, knees, or wrists to feel stable, but this creates a false sense of strength while doing nothing to actually support the joint.
• Hypermobility affects far more than flexibility. It's a connective tissue issue that can show up in blood vessels, skin, digestion, and even proprioception (the ability to sense where your joints are in space).
• Stretching isn't always the answer. For many hypermobile people, tight-feeling muscles are actually overworked global muscles compensating for instability — stretching them doesn't fix the root cause and can reinforce the problem.
• Small-range, mid-range strengthening builds real joint stability. Rather than training through a joint's full (excessive) range, work it in its middle range first to build genuine control.
• Visual and tactile cues help hypermobile clients "feel" correct alignment. Mirrors, poles, foam rollers, and closed-fist grips (instead of straps) give proprioceptively-impaired clients something to reference.
• Pilates has built-in tools that suit hypermobile bodies. Pilates V stance, footwork technique, and standing arm springs all naturally block hyperextension while building strength in a safe range.
• Awareness is the real first step. Most hypermobile people don't notice they're sitting into a joint — teaching them to spot and correct these habits in daily life is often more valuable than any single exercise.
• Warmth and tense-release techniques beat stretching for release. Heat packs, hot baths, and contracting-then-releasing a muscle work better for hypermobile bodies than traditional stretching.

FROM THE EPISODE

"It's almost impossible to rest into the joint if you've got the muscles switched on around it — because the muscles lift you out of the joint."

"We don't want to stretch the joint. We want to keep the joint as stable and snug as we can — so we're trying to stabilize the joint when we are stretching.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is hypermobility? Hypermobility is a connective tissue condition where the soft tissue throughout the body isn't as strong or supportive as it is in the average person. It can affect joints, skin, blood vessels, and even digestion, and is estimated to affect around one in four people, more commonly women.

What are the signs of hypermobility? Common signs include joints that lock out or hyperextend (especially knees, elbows, and wrists), a tendency to feel "tight" despite being very flexible, recurring joint injuries, and difficulty sensing exactly where a joint is in space (poor proprioception).

Should hypermobile people stretch? Not in the traditional sense. Many hypermobile people feel tight because overworked global muscles are compensating for joint instability, and stretching those muscles doesn't resolve the underlying cause. Gentler approaches like tense-and-release techniques and warmth (heat packs, hot baths) tend to work better.

Is hypermobility a medical condition? It can be. There are recognized syndromes such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and hypermobility syndrome, diagnosed using a set of joint tests. Some people are simply hypermobile without a diagnosed syndrome, while others have a genetically inherited condition alongside it.

Why is Pilates good for hypermobile bodies? Pilates has built-in mechanics — like the Pilates V stance and grip-based handles instead of straps — that naturally prevent hyperextension while training the smaller stabilizing muscles around a joint. This helps build real joint strength rather than relying on flexibility alone.

Can hypermobile people do strength training? Yes, but with care. Alignment needs to be correct before loading a joint, and lighter loads with excellent postural control tend to be more effective than heavy lifting, since small-range movements build joint strength more safely than large-range ones.

Is it too late to start Pilates if I'm hypermobile and have struggled for years? No — Pilates can still help build strength and reduce pain at any stage. That said, people with a diagnosed hypermobility syndrome may need a specialist with deep expertise in that area, as progress can be slower and more complex.

How do I know if I'm hypermobile? You can look up standard hypermobility joint tests online (a specialist typically checks around seven joints, and meeting a certain number indicates hypermobility). It's also worth knowing that hypermobility can appear to "reduce" with age as surrounding muscles tighten to compensate, even though the underlying joint laxity hasn't gone away.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Lightly edited for readability

Louise: So Sue, can you tell us about your Pilates journey and what led you to specialize in working with hypermobility?

Sue: I was working as a dancer and choreographer, mainly working with dancers. When I got to my late thirties, I started thinking I just can't keep doing dance class — it was getting hard. I thought I need to find something I can take with me as I age, something that will keep me strong and fit and doesn't necessarily involve me throwing myself on the floor and getting up again. I was beginning to feel like the dancers are all running around and I'm not really running around anymore. So that's what started me on the journey to look for something else, and that's how I ended up choosing Pilates. First it was just for myself, and then it was a natural progression to start teaching it.

Louise: And so many dancers are hypermobile as well.

Sue: Yes, yes, yes.

Louise: Are you hypermobile yourself?

Sue: I am. I'm hypermobile, and I didn't even really realize it was a thing or a problem to pay attention to, because in my dance training they just said if it looked good, it was fine. I don't think it's quite like that anymore — there's a lot more care and attention paid to what you might actually be doing to your joints. But there wasn't when I was training, so I gradually began to realize this isn't really very good.

Louise: It's funny, because when I did my dance training, I so envied hypermobile bodies. I really wanted that type of range, that flexibility, especially in my hip joints. That's all I wanted — I just wanted to be able to have my leg up near my ear.

Sue: Yeah, exactly. And to have that arabesque line, where the back's really arched and the leg's really high — we all thought it was wonderful. But it's still the fashion now, isn't it — extreme mobility in the hips, in dance.

Louise: It's very much admired. So what inspired you to create Turning Tide Pilates?

Sue: It was to do with moving to New Zealand and wanting to start a studio here — so it's my New Zealand Pilates studio. I used to have a Pilates studio before I came here, at my house in London, and it was just called Spark Pilates. I guess it's the idea of something elemental, and Turning Tide is a similar seed, if you like — something powerful from the elements, an irresistible force and a self-renewing force. That, to me, is what we're tuning into when we do Pilates.

Louise: I really love that — the whole idea of turning tide, especially in New Zealand, there's so much water around you. It's a fairly small island, or a big island I suppose.

Sue: Well, lots of coast.

Louise: Lots of coast, exactly. And how has your own movement practice influenced the way you teach today?

Sue: I think my journey as a Pilates student definitely influences everything I teach. The first couple of years after I graduated I just did a bit of practice on my own, and then I started taking class with other teachers. I've done that for 20 years, more or less — taking class usually twice a week with a teacher outside my own studio, so I've got somebody else's eyes on me. That's really informed me as to how important the teacher is, and it's kept me fresh and asking questions. I always try everything out through my own experience so I understand it in my body, what I'm teaching.

Louise: It makes a big difference when you can feel it on your own body. So you often work with people who are recovering from injury or adapting to changes in their body. What do you find most rewarding about that work?

Sue: I think at this point, change happens more quickly — probably because I've been teaching longer, so the useful patterns and exercises I can spot more quickly for each person. I'm also a lot more confident about telling the person what they need to do to make change happen. Once you've seen it enough, you're confident with your — let's call it salesmanship — of the Pilates or home practice you're giving them, as well as what you're doing with them in session. I think that's what makes the biggest difference.

Louise: Yeah, absolutely — just reading someone's body. The other day someone came to the studio and she was so curled over and hunched forward, and I hadn't seen her for about a month. I was like, oh my God, what's happened? So we didn't start with the usual work — we went straight to that lovely back extension, stretching over a foam roller, just to help open everything out. She said, "I really need some stretching," and I said, "Yep, that's what we're gonna do."

Sue: Yeah, exactly — being able to respond.

Louise: Exactly. So reading the body well becomes something intuitive that we just grow into as teachers. So for listeners who may not be familiar with it, what exactly is hypermobility?

Sue: It's actually quite a huge thing. It's a soft tissue — I don't like to say "disorder" — but a soft tissue syndrome situation. The connective tissue in the body isn't as strong throughout the body as it is in the average person, and it affects all areas of the body — even the blood vessels are connective tissue. So all kinds of things: digestive issues, and obviously as Pilates teachers we're mainly dealing with musculoskeletal, joint issues. But it can affect all sorts of areas of the body in all sorts of different ways. It's actually a huge, huge thing.

Louise: That's really interesting — the blood vessels as well. I know with pregnant women, when they become pregnant the hormone relaxin relaxes the veins too, so you can get varicose veins. Is it similar to that, or not quite the same?

Sue: I'd say yeah — the connective tissue around the joints, and throughout the body, is made more lax by the hormones. It's similar. So there is more at stake for a pregnant woman who is already hypermobile.

Louise: Yeah, because pregnancy actually relaxes all the ligaments, so you do end up becoming quite hypermobile.

Sue: And then you can overstretch the ligament — because muscles are elastic, they spring back, but once you overstretch the ligaments, ligaments don't have that elastic capability.

Louise: So is hypermobility simply being very flexible? But it's more than that, isn't it?

Sue: Yeah, it's more than that. It's throughout the body, it can affect brain tissue as well. It's mostly females — between 70 and 80% of hypermobility is in females. About one in four people is hypermobile, so we're getting on for 25%-plus of the population. Another interesting statistic: 40% of people who are neurodiverse are hypermobile. So there's a nerve element too — let's call it proprioception. The tendons around the joints aren't able to tell what the joint is doing in space as well in a hypermobile person as in an average person. It has many, many different facets to it.

Louise: So what are common signs and symptoms of someone with a hypermobile body?

Sue: I'd say from our point of view as Pilates teachers, it's what your eye will tell you — that they're either locking a joint to try and be strong, or they're allowing the joint to go beyond its normal range. Those are the two main things we'd see, and we'd know that person has too much range in that joint, or they're locking a joint above or below it to try to make themselves feel stronger.

Louise: You see that in footwork, don't you — when people press out and lock their legs without using the muscles around it, or the legs bending back like a banana shape.

Sue: That's right — very noticeable. I'd say especially with females, the elbows, wrists, hands, fingers — there's often hypermobility there even if there isn't in the legs. We're often locking the bones to feel strong in our upper body, because we're not naturally so strong there. But locking the joints doesn't actually create strength — it's a false sense of strength. It's the body's intelligence, call it that — the body has these mechanisms to make things work when they don't work that well, and that's one of them.

Louise: So are some people born hypermobile, or can it develop over time?

Sue: I think you're born with the tendency, but it can also develop — usually you get less mobile, but that doesn't mean you're losing your hypermobility. It just means the structures above and below the hypermobile joint are locking down, which makes you seem like a very tight person. Pregnancy and menopause also bring problems to the joints — in pregnancy for the reason we said, and in menopause because we're losing joint stability as we lose estrogen.

Louise: That ligament complexity.

Sue: That's right — they become more painful and more mobile. And, not to do with hypermobility as far as I know, but arthritis — you could say it's co-related, because an overworked joint that's not worked in a healthy range is more likely to become arthritic. But that's another story.

Louise: So is hypermobility considered a medical condition?

Sue: Yes. There are a few syndromes — Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and hypermobility syndrome. These are measured using a set of tests across several joints — for example, being able to take your thumb back to touch your wrist, which I used to be able to do as a kid but can't anymore. If you meet a certain number of those tests, you qualify for that syndrome. There are also a few other genetically inherited conditions that have hypermobility as part of them — I'm not an expert in those, but people can look them up. They come alongside other musculoskeletal issues you can inherit.

Louise: That's really interesting. I remember seeing something on TV about a guy who could dislocate his shoulders to get through a tiny space and then pop them back in — some sort of hypermobility thing. Is that a hypermobility thing, when someone dislocates like that?

Sue: Yeah, exactly.

Louise: So maybe if you have that, you'd do well as a circus performer, or...

Sue: Yes — skater, dancer, gymnast, contortionist.

Louise: Oh my God. And what conditions are commonly associated with hypermobility?

Sue: There are a few interesting things. One is fibromyalgia, which you tend to get as you get older. There's also orthostatic syndrome, where when you change position you get dizzy and lightheaded, and you're also not very good at standing for a long time — I think that's to do with the blood vessels not being very strong, though I'm partly speculating there. Basically you're not very good at maintaining blood pressure when you change position quickly or stand for a long time. There can also be lots of skin things — poor wound healing, hives, lots of sensitivities generally. And for us as Pilates teachers — joint pain, and recurrent, frequent injuries.

Louise: I remember one of my dance friends at university had a groin strain — she was so hypermobile she could get her leg up incredibly high, and I remember seeing her in so much pain from that injury. At that age everyone seemed so healthy and strong, so it was surprising to see. Maybe that was because of her hypermobility.

Sue: Yeah, because she just pushed it too far — her body could go into such extreme ranges.

Louise: So we sort of assume being flexible is a great advantage, especially in dance. What are some of the hidden challenges hypermobile people face?

Sue: Just as you say — overuse of a joint, damaging a joint. Also misplacing the alignment of the body. If you don't have strength where you need it, you end up using the gravity line to find strength instead of finding it through the line of your joints.

Louise: That makes sense — you can see people with that sway-back posture, where the pelvis swings forward and the back swings back, with the knees hyperextending. It becomes hard to get them to hold good posture because they kind of sit into their joints.

Sue: Exactly. And the other part of that is what you could call dyspraxia, or lack of proprioception — you actually can't feel what your joints are doing. In my own practice, and with my clients when needed, I've found using a mirror really helpful, because then I can see and learn where my knee should be, or notice when I'm sitting into my back, and learn to lengthen out of it or switch on around the hip joint — because I can visually see what's wrong, learn what that feels like, and then see and learn what's right.

Louise: That's so helpful — I really struggle with some of my hypermobile clients because I correct them into the right shape, then turn around to work with someone else, look back, and they've sunk right back into that same posture. They can't feel it, so they can't put themselves there.

Sue: So you have to give them something — visuals are the easiest, but it could also be a touch thing, like a pole behind you or a foam roller behind you, or a pole in front, to help you stack yourself up.

Louise: That's really fascinating. So is pain a common feature of hypermobility?

Sue: I had a lot of knee pain when I was dancing, especially when I was training young. So yes — pain in the hypermobile joints, and generalized joint pain because the joints haven't got any support. They're always being misused — not deliberately, but because your body's just finding its way with these unstable building blocks instead of stable ones.

Louise: I remember seeing in an anatomy book — I think it's called Posture and Pain — an X-ray of a hypermobile knee where the patella sits very close in the femoral groove, with visible inflammation, compared to a well-aligned knee with more space, suggesting less wear and tear.

Sue: Quite. And then the whole body — you're dealing with a lot more exhaustion, more tiredness, because there's so much attention and tension needed, and the loss of good function and form, because you're not in good function and form most of the time.

Louise: I've got one client, very hypermobile, which is unusual to see in a man — he's had a few different injuries, and quite often he's shaking when he's exercising, like his muscles get exhausted very quickly. Would that be a symptom — a nervous system thing, or just that the muscles get exhausted trying to maintain that shape?

Sue: I think your intuition is right — the muscles are exhausted, that's the more accurate read. There's an interesting reason why hypermobile people feel tight: if you need to use your global muscles to stabilize yourself, they get exhausted. So if you're very hypermobile in your lumbar-pelvic area, you'll be using your quads, glutes and hamstrings to stabilize your pelvis — and those muscles aren't meant to do that job, so they get very tired.

Louise: How can we get the smaller muscles to work?

Sue: It's back to basics — all those things we know well as Pilates teachers: switch on the supporting muscles, starting with the core, then the next big muscle group, the hips — your basics, side-lying legs, small range work. Small range is key, because it's pointless trying to strengthen a joint with huge range through its whole range. You strengthen it in its mid-range first, in a small range, and get it strong there. Then, in theory, as the small muscles start doing their job again, the global muscles will be able to stop trying to hold the skeleton in place.

Louise: Some of my hypermobile clients really love those big stretches because they can go so far, and they look amazing doing it. Should I be pulling them back from those big stretches?

Sue: It depends on their experience too. Quite often, hypermobile people feel like they need to stretch because those global muscles feel tight from holding them in place, but the muscles won't respond to stretching because they're busy doing that stabilizing job — and also because we don't want to go into that big range. Your best bet is to get them anchoring: always thinking of an anchor point. Say you're stretching a hamstring up in the air — the position of the hips and back is really important, and the thigh bone should be pulled into the hip socket, not out of it. We're not trying to stretch the joint — we want to keep it as stable and snug as possible, so we're stabilizing the joint even while stretching.

Louise: Ooh, that's so interesting. So what does instability feel like in everyday life?

Sue: It's hard to know because it's what you're used to, but it's like wondering why other people don't pick things up the same way you do.

Louise: Like going into an arabesque to pick something up off the floor?

Sue: Exactly. I think the point is that we hypermobile people use counterbalance, because it saves us from using strength — we're using gravity to counterbalance ourselves through our joints, rather than strength to hold ourselves.

Louise: It actually makes me wonder about the pelvic floor — I don't know, maybe I'll ask a pelvic floor specialist about this down the track — but I wonder if the pelvic floor muscles tighten to try to help stabilize everything, and you end up with a hypertonic pelvic floor.

Sue: I don't know enough about that, honestly. I'd presume those tissues are affected like so many others through the body — maybe less toned, we'll say. But the theory I've been exploring is more that the global muscles are what's holding a hypermobile person in place, so they're probably not overworking their pelvic floor. They might be, but that's a different story that wouldn't affect their hypermobility as such.

Louise: That makes sense — but it's a question I'll save for my pelvic floor people. So we've talked a bit about posture and movement patterns — are there any other hypermobility things that affect posture and movement?

Sue: I think we've covered quite a few of the main postural things.

Louise: And the arabesque-to-pick-something-up thing is really interesting. So are there particular injuries that hypermobile people are more prone to?

Sue: I think the one I see most, especially with my slightly younger clients, is the knees — hypermobile knees forever causing people problems. They often can't run, or shouldn't, because they'll hurt themselves — though if someone really wanted to and put in the work to get strong and do all the right things, maybe they could, but it seems like the wrong thing for that person. They'd be better off doing Pilates, or swimming. And with older women, it's the wrists — carpal tunnel, arthritic wrists. So many women load up their wrists, hyperextending them, doing funny things with their fingers to try to feel strong through their hands.

Louise: I've noticed with hands in straps, a lot of women break at the wrist rather than pushing down through a strong line, so they're using the heel of the hand rather than a long line through the wrist — even with chariot pulls on the reformer, or prone extension on the long box, they'll break at the wrist. It's frustrating because it's hard to get people aware of what they're actually doing.

Sue: That comes back to one of the key teaching points. My first job with hypermobile clients is to make them aware of their hypermobile habits, and to get them to notice when they're doing that thing — whether it's breaking at the wrist — and I'll just say, "your wrist needs to be flat," and ask them to notice at home too, when their wrist isn't flat, and try to flatten it. Because only by noticing their little habits in everyday life will they actually make a change. You have to be really strict about it. I've changed in my studio to using handles instead of straps for hand work, because if you've got a grip — a fist — you can work on a flat wrist much more easily than with a strap, where you've got something in your hand but no strong wrist attached to a fist.

Louise: Actually, that's good.

Sue: It gives you that tactile input — something tactile really can help teach a person, especially because when you're hypermobile you can't really feel that you're doing the wrong thing. If you've got something that helps you feel the correct position, and something that helps you see it, you can start to practice and make a change.

Louise: That's a really good hint. So why is Pilates such an effective form of exercise for people with hypermobility?

Sue: I think it's just not addressed in so many other modalities, but it is addressed in Pilates — we have some built-in things that really help, so we don't have to invent lots of new things for our clients; it's already within the system, you just have to look at it through that lens. Like using the handles, which works well for hypermobile wrists and hands. Using the Pilates V stance on the toes for footwork and tendon stretch means you can't hyperextend the knees; using Pilates stance when standing means the same. It teaches people to switch their leg muscles on and work their knees and hips without going into hypermobility, so they can build strength in a safe position.

Louise: That's interesting — I think of calf raises with some clients, where when they go up onto their toes their ankles roll out — these super flexible ankle joints.

Sue: Exactly — if you put them in Pilates V with the heels together, they can't go beyond a certain point, because the heels would separate. Telling them "the heels have got to stay stuck together" gives them a task that helps them.

Louise: That's fantastic. What's the biggest mistake hypermobile people make when exercising?

Sue: Sitting into their hypermobility, like we said — a lack of awareness, and perhaps not realizing they're using it to solve a problem, like not being strong enough.

Louise: It does make you think — if you're at the gym lifting heavy weights but your back isn't in the optimal position because you're sinking into your hypermobility, it'd be easy to end up with a back injury. But if you've taught someone to use their core and switch on their stabilizing muscles, they're not going to sit into their hypermobility.

Sue: Exactly — it's almost impossible if you've got the muscles switched on around the joints; it's impossible to rest into the joint, because the muscles lift you out of it.

Louise: So should people with hypermobility actually be stretching?

Sue: It's a really interesting question — I honestly don't know. I think it varies person to person, and if a stretch isn't working, that muscle probably doesn't need stretching. Something I only found out recently: it's better to use the tense-and-release technique — like in yoga relaxation, where you tense a muscle and then release it — that's a better way to release tension in a hypermobile person's muscles than trying to stretch them. Warmth helps too — heat packs, a hot bath after a hard session — that's much better for a hypermobile person than stretching. You have to go person by person, and where someone is hypermobile is often not where they need to be stretched. Also, some of that tightness is global muscles doing supporting work they shouldn't be doing — stretching those muscles won't help much, because they'll just go back to stabilizing until you've built up strength around the joints, and then they'll be able to let go. That's the theory, anyway.

Louise: How does strength training fit into the picture?

Sue: Strength training's really good, as long as you're careful with the joints — making sure everything's in the right alignment before loading them up. I think it's quite poorly understood in the strength-training world that hypermobility is a big thing that a lot of people have, and that they'll keep injuring themselves because their joints aren't stable enough for the loads that the "lift heavy" crowd wants us to lift. So maybe lighter loads, but in a really optimal postural position, doing all the exercises with the best posture possible. And small movements are better for building joint strength — it's far more important for a hypermobile person to build joint strength than muscle strength, because there's no point having big strong muscles if you haven't got the joints to hold them.

Louise: That makes a lot of sense actually, thinking of some of my clients. What role does proprioception play in managing hypermobility?

Sue: It's about learning — finding the keys that help people get in touch with what their joints are doing, what different parts of their body are doing. Using touch — getting them to touch where you want a muscle to switch on. Getting them to observe in the mirror what the joint looks like in good alignment versus not. Using the Pilates equipment and knowledge to educate people about what's healthy for their body, and unfortunately, the cards they were dealt need to be swapped for more stability.

Louise: Would things like standing on a wobble board or foam mat help increase proprioception, or working with their eyes closed while standing?

Sue: Yeah, all of those things would be good — anything that engages the supporting musculature close to the joints.

Louise: And what are your favourite Pilates exercises for building that stability and resilience?

Sue: For the legs, footwork — using that Pilates V. Then going through the different back shapes to help find strength in the back, in all the different positions. And good old-fashioned arm series — standing arm springs are really good for getting the shoulders and back into a good position. Simple stuff.

Louise: It's interesting, isn't it — it's not so much doing the walkover on the Cadillac, it's pulling it back from that.

Sue: Yeah — and it's kind of pointless doing it if you're just using your flexibility to do it, which is what I would've been doing early in my training. People would say "wow, Sue, you look amazing" — but I wasn't actually strong.

Louise: Isn't that amazing — you're strong enough to hold yourself together, but not actually really strong. So many people notice their body changing in their forties, fifties and beyond. How does hypermobility impact the aging process?

Sue: I think the interesting thing is that a lot of hypermobile people tend to get very tight, because of what we've been talking about — the global muscles start to lock down, the fascia locks down, and you become quite a restricted mover. This is the theory for how and why it can turn into fibromyalgia as well, where everything's very inflamed and irritated and you can't do a lot of movement anymore.

Louise: That's so fascinating. So what can hypermobile individuals do now to stay strong and active later in life?

Sue: Pilates, of course — small-range clam exercises lying on their side, knee drops that are contained so they keep the pelvis steady. Once they've got that, the world's their clam.

Louise: Fantastic. And is it ever too late to start Pilates if you've struggled with hypermobility your whole life?

Sue: I'd confess that I haven't chosen this as an area I publicize myself as an expert in, because it's very difficult and complex. When people have one of the hypermobile syndromes, they can be in a lot of pain, at real risk of dislocating joints, and it can be very hard to look after them unless you're a genuine expert who's focused in that direction — and that's not me. I'm more your everyday hypermobile person — ex-gymnast, ex-dancer — like the normal, everyday people who happen to be hypermobile. I've got a couple of clients with a diagnosed syndrome, and honestly it's probably more frustrating for them, but it's also frustrating for me, because it can feel like you're cycling around points of diminishing returns.

Louise: That's so hard.

Sue: You could put your optimistic hat on and say they're a lot better because they're doing Pilates — and I do believe that's true — but I wish I could do more. It's hard for them because of the pain, the exhaustion, the frustration, the inflammation. A full-blown hypermobile syndrome is a very debilitating thing to have.

Louise: It's interesting that you say all that, but talking to you has really helped me with a lot of my clients who are quite hypermobile — even if they don't have those syndromes, or at least I don't know if they do. I'm sure having someone as lovely as you in the studio makes a big difference in their lives, because sometimes I feel like my role as a teacher is to uplift people and give them a bit of positive energy, because energy is contagious — and if you can help brighten someone's day, that can actually reduce some of the pain signals they're receiving. I really feel like Pilates can be so healing in so many different ways.

Sue: Yeah, and as you say, it's what we transmit, what we hope we're transmitting — it's a virtuous circle. You get feedback from your clients that you're helping them, which encourages you to think more about why that helped them, what's going on — you remain intrigued, interested and motivated. I try to really be in partnership with my clients, so that they want to come along with me — they have autonomy, a say. It's not just "I'm the expert, this is what you need to do" — it's "let's have a look at what's going on, how does this feel, how does that feel, what could help you," getting their ideas and feedback about what we're doing too. So they're not passively receiving.

Louise: I think that's such a beautiful thing, because so often you go to a specialist and they tell you this or that, but there's no two-way communication — you're just being told one thing, with no space for the questions you might have. Whereas Pilates instructors, I think, are always searching for the right move, what's going to make that person feel better — it's such a rewarding thing to do, to teach, because you really feel like you can make an impact on someone's life.

Sue: Yeah, and really help them. And even if you can't magically take someone's shoulder pain away, at least we're showing up for them and giving them help to the capacity we can.

Louise: Absolutely. So if someone's listening and thinks they might be hypermobile, what should their next step be?

Sue: It depends what they're doing. They can look at the tests for hypermobility online — the different joint tests a specialist would give you to see whether you qualify, I think there are around seven, and if you have five of them you're considered hypermobile. They should also bear in mind they might have had more hypermobility when they were younger, and some of it's clamped down since, depending on their age and what they've done. I think the key is then to try to work with someone who can help you with it — whether that's a personal trainer who understands hypermobility (though I've hardly heard of any, and that's not their fault, they're just not trained to notice it), or a yoga teacher. Yoga has a lot to answer for in this respect — I don't mean to criticize other things, but if you think you're hypermobile, probably stop doing yoga.

Louise: That's what I'm thinking too — it can be too extreme, especially if you've got a competitive streak and try to outdo other people in the room. Definitely, if you think you're hypermobile, don't do it. It's fascinating — when you're younger you can spring out of these things, but as you get older, that's when you really get injured.

Sue: Yeah — when you're young you're probably injuring the joints but not feeling it, and it catches up with you later. But that's what humans do — we're never going to stop gymnasts, dancers, acrobats and sportspeople pushing themselves toward the culture they want to be part of. The human body will adapt and change based on the information you give it, and Pilates is good information for the body. Depending on what's going on for you, you might need to do something else too.

Louise: What's one piece of advice you wish you'd received earlier in your career?

Sue: Don't lock your hypermobile knees. Stop right now.

Louise: That's very good advice. And what keeps you inspired and thriving after more than 20 years of teaching?

Sue: I just find it always interesting — a deep and broad topic. I've always been intrigued by movement, and I'm still working with movement, and it's always been beautiful and intriguing to me how people move, and it still is. There aren't many geniuses in the world, and I believe Joe Pilates was one — but because it's in the physical realm, it's not as recognized. It was experienced more than written about, so it's not recognized in the same way, but we have the legacy of a genius here that we're continuing to work with, to help people.

Louise: Absolutely, that's so true — I've never thought of him like that before, but now that you say it, I really believe it. What he did was incredible for that time.

Sue: He really was a genius. And there were others in other modalities around the same time — Feldenkrais, Martha Graham, who also worked with the idea that everything emanates from the centre of the body, branching out from there. Their spark of genius, their understanding, the power in their teaching, is only really recognized by people in that world.

Louise: Yeah, it's a small world, isn't it — whereas everyone knows who Einstein is.

Sue: Because he was in the realm of the stars.

Louise: That's right. So Sue, how can people get in touch with you, all the way over in New Zealand?

Sue: Email, I suppose, or Instagram, and I have a website too — www.turningtidepilates.co.nz.

Louise: Fantastic. It's been so wonderful and insightful to talk to you about hypermobility — I really know what to look out for now in the studio with a lot of my clients' posture. Thank you so much, you're so good, it's so nice to talk to you.

Sue: Oh, thank you.

LINKS & RESOURCES

• Turning Tide Pilates — Sue Nash's Pilates studio, New Zealand

• Sue Nash on Instagram
• THE BEIGHTON SCORING SYSTEM / hypermobility joint tests — used to assess hypermobility across a set of joints 
• Moshe Feldenkrais — movement practitioner referenced alongside Joseph Pilates and Martha Graham
• Martha Graham — modern dance pioneer referenced for her center-based movement philosophy
• Taube Pilates: https://www.taubepilates.com/

ENJOYED THIS EPISODE?

If this episode resonated with you, share it with a fellow Pilates teacher or a client you think might be relate. And if you haven't subscribed yet, make sure you do so you don't miss the next one.

Subscribe: https://open.spotify.com/show/7lpbbJ42cRuFfNzteYBXI5?si=aaf0515d92304f96