Hypermobility and anxiety

I tend to work with a lot of folks with hypermobility and hEDS, since there’s a big correlation between hypermobility and pelvic pain. I’m passionate about providing holistic care for folks with hypermobility, since it’s so often misunderstood and misrepresented.

This study looking at the connection between hypermobility and anxiety was so interesting. There were a lot of cool findings, but what stood out to me was the increased insula activity in folks with hypermobility and anxiety vs folks with just hypermobility. And that there was MORE insula activity with greater degrees of hypermobility (higher scores on the Beighton Scale, which is the main/albeit flawed assessment tool for hypermobility). The insula is one of the areas of the brain connected to interoception, or our felt internal sense. The researchers theorized that the differences in connective tissue of the vascular system/dysautonomia could be responsible for increased sympathetic/fight or flight nervous system activity. This increased activity in the insula seems to be connected to increased activity they also saw in the amygdala, which detects threat. It left me curious about the connections between hypermobility, anxiety, and chronic pain. I’d be curious to hear more about the connection b/w all three, since we know a sensitized nervous system=less precise embodied predictions about what’s actually happening in our bodies=more likely to experience chronic pain.

If you present with this combination of hypermobility and anxiety, you are certainly not alone! Most of my work comes from a framework of establishing safety within the nervous system in order to reprocess pain. If you’re looking for a hEDS-informed pelvic floor therapist, I’d be happy to support you.