hypermobile and autism?

[jo jones]

hi again i been reading through sum posts and i have come across hypermobility ? when my son was goin to see paeds in hosp she thought that his muscle tone was weak, so referral to o/t put in with other sensory issues .. this has been part of asd assessments and so on,, i really didnt think of relevance till now as i am hypermobile myself,, i had only ever heard of double jointed or lax joints which i have,,, my mother has it and i passed it on to my eldest son who has had to pull out of college through this,, he was doin sport science but his kneecaps dislocate without pain ,,i have this problem with both shoulders and dont feel pain,, i'm wondering if i should have told them this at appointment,, could this be relevant???? also paed came to see my youngest son at school he is 6 on sat,, when she measured his head circ she did explain that the measurments were either wrong or he had accellerated growth of his skull???? i idnt have a clue what she was on about,, she then rang me to tell me that there was a mistake and that he was fine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[justamum]

i'm wondering if i should have told them this at appointment,, could this be relevant????

 

YES!

 

You have hyper mobility syndrome...slightly different from being hypermobile.

 

There is a school of thought that there is more instantness of parents who have HMS have a higher tendency to have children with autistic traits. There have been no medical confirmation of this, just parental chit chat on the site. However the two often lay side by side and autism means hypermobile...but not always the syndrome.

 

HMS.org

[jo jones]

thanx for advice i think i'm goin mad lol,, i just ad quick look on net for hypermobility in general and i have taken both my eldest and youngest son's to gp before as the both suffer with aching legs ,,the little one is worse it wakes im at night,, and every morning he complains that his legs hurt, i have to massage them before he goes to school almost every day,, gp said growing pains!!! and also said the little one is busy all the time thats why,, sent us away with ibuprofen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! should i look into this further?or take him back? when we had o/t assessment the paed had asked to check muscle tone?

[jo4themo]

Hi Jo

N (age 9, AS) also has hypermobility in her ankles and knees - this was picked up early as she couldn't walk until she was 3 so had loads of tests! N also has a very large head circumference - when she was born it was on the 75th centilre but by 2 and a half she was on the 99th, and by 5 she was off the chart! When I buy her sunhats now, they have to be in adult women's size! Not sure if there is a connection with this and ASD or hypermobility though as I have a larger than average head for a woman and my late father could never find hats to fit him.

Emma

[jo jones]

this brings another query to mind my youngest had a depressed fracture and linear fracture to his skull at xmas caused by a little girl who had run into him at school,,, long story very angry bout it lots off issues with school let him sleep,,, didnt inform me ,,, no first aid given and so on ,, when the paed was visiting him at school for autism assessments she has been measuring his hea circ? so nowt to do with the bump the second time she said he had accellerated growth of his skull or it was a mistake with the measurements????? he has had to see neurosurgeons since xmas cos of the bump and i asked if his head measurements were of any relevance????? he asked why was his head circ being measured??? said they only do that untill a certain age!!!!! people have always commented that his head seems bit bigger!!!! i never thought any different cos we are all different shapes and sizes !!!!!!!!!!! it just springs to mind that if they have completely discounted everything i have said in the assessment process then why do they seem to be lookin for other indicators??? do they know something i dont?????

[Tenhands]

Hi,

 

I am adult with Aspergers and have hypermobile joints and spine (now stiffening through arthritis). There is some literature around that mentions problems with ligament development (they attach muscle to bone), so the range of movement is not held in check. A friend did some research on this for a area for a Masters degree and it does seem to be well documented.

 

Despite the arthritis, I can still amaze the physiotherapists with my range of movement.

 

After I had an accident, it was so difficult trying to tell the docs that my range of movement was very impaired. They thought because I was still showing a better than average range of movement, that I wasn't that badly injured.

 

I don't have a large head though but perhaps my work colleagues would disagree with that

Edited April 30, 2008 by Tenhands

[ScienceGeek]

I have hypermobile joints, but I don't have a large head, in fact I have a rather small head. The last hat I bought was for 8-10yr olds.

[ogsplosh]

I never realised there was a link. My DD is 'double jointed and has flat feet' what I was told my the foot Dr bloke. Is this what hypermobility is?

Edited May 1, 2008 by ogsplosh

[darky]

I am hypermobile and have joint problems. Just had Orthsotics for rolled in ankle and Planatar Facitis. I also have Carpal Tunnel and wear wrist splints at night due to flexible wrists. My family all have joint hypermobility, and my children also have low muscle tone. My husband does not have hypermobility, but some of his family do so our children stood no chance! All my babes have low stamina, and tire easily through writing and PE.

[jo jones]

when i was younger people always used to ask me to turn my elbows inside out? they said i was weird!!! ha ha,, i dont have problems with my arms but my shoulders dislocate with no pain,, this only bothers me at nite cos when i sleep and my shoulder comes out, i only know because i have pins and needles down my arms and my hands this wakes me but i also have always clicked my ankles i dont know why? i had intense physio a few years back to try and build muscle tone in my arms , this didnt work ,i am only 5 foot and i weigh bout 6 and half stone so im little anyway,, my eldest suffers with his knees and the little one i think will also have knee probs cos it's always his legs that he complains of ,,i have asked yesterday if this is relevant ? his paed will get back to me i hope?

[harmony]

hi again i been reading through sum posts and i have come across hypermobility ? when my son was goin to see paeds in hosp she thought that his muscle tone was weak, so referral to o/t put in with other sensory issues .. this has been part of asd assessments and so on,, i really didnt think of relevance till now as i am hypermobile myself,, i had only ever heard of double jointed or lax joints which i have,,, my mother has it and i passed it on to my eldest son who has had to pull out of college through this,, he was doin sport science but his kneecaps dislocate without pain ,,i have this problem with both shoulders and dont feel pain,, i'm wondering if i should have told them this at appointment,, could this be relevant???? also paed came to see my youngest son at school he is 6 on sat,, when she measured his head circ she did explain that the measurments were either wrong or he had accellerated growth of his skull???? i idnt have a clue what she was on about,, she then rang me to tell me that there was a mistake and that he was fine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hi,

Hypermobility has plagued me all my life, due to lax joints, my handwriring was dreadful, the muscles (low tone) and joints couldn't support the nerves from brain to hand correctly, hence my fine motor control was dreadful. my daughter has had this from birth aswell, I picked up on her poor pen control, and long loose limbs when she was 2 or 3, eventually she was diagnosed with dyspraxia (one of the main features of this is hypermobility) She has since been diagnosed with AS.

I have managed to aleviate many of the side of effects of my hypermobility by practicing yoga, to strengthen the muscles to support the nerves. To strengthen bones (bone loading) to improve balance and co-ordination. I can now control my lax joints almost completly. My DD has begun yoga now, and we are already noticing that she is gaining muscle, and her balance has improved.

 

All very interesting stuff

 

Harmony x

[Roseweave]

I'm wondering about this, is this a common problem associated with autism/aspergers and why? It seems odd to have such a physical thing linked with a mental behaviour.

 

My whole left arm is very bad at the moment. It feels constnatly sore and worn out, and the joints click when making several movements. I'm wondering..

[jo jones]

the more i seem to read i am thinkin the more relevance it has, i also think that the paed was already lookin for this ? if she had asked about other family members i would have told her, it does seem that maybe he is on the spectrum somewhere but not sure where? this was when the pad team were brought in and said he does not tick the boxes????? but when we last saw the psychologist she didnt even know about the sensory probs until i showed her his sensory profile!!!! i was very angry that info is not being shared with relevant people therefore he is not getting the support he deserves!!!basically cos i work in learning diffs and autism they said we are already dealin with issues anyway so he has been discharged!!! it makes me so mad and makes me think how many people get missed who genuinely suffer and i know its really hard sumtimes to deal with certain things,, my husband finds it very hard when im at work ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Abby]

Blimey,this has opened my eyes a bit,is hypermob linked to ASD /AS ?

 

Its just I think my son may have AS/ASD and has been DX with hypertonia/dyspraxia, They cant seem to decide which he has.

He has poor balance,poor handwriting,cant hold pen properly,always complaining of aching muscles,always coming home from school saying he was so tired after P.E,he has very flexible joints,he can touch his thumb on his wrist and can bend his finers baclwards to 90 degree angles etc

he was tested,the OT says hypertonia but his pead says dyspraxia.

Could it be hypermobility instead? and what is the main differnce between them all?

he always seems to be so tired after any physical activity.

I took him to the GP once because he kept saying saying hs legs ached and always moaned when we were wallking anyweher but the doc said nothing wrong after just feelnig his legs a bit.What that proved I dont know!

How on earth do you even get a referal for something like that though?

[jo jones]

i took both my sons to gp and he said growin pains!!! my youngest son's paed rang me fri bout this and said obviously cos i have told her now that i have it my mam has it and my eldest son,,, she has said will definately look at him again as they were questioning his low muscle tone anyway,,, we shall see??? he has not been dx with any asd ??? i am thinking of 2nd opinion cos i'm not happy!!! the paed is good but pad team are rubbish!!!

[Kathryn]

There have been a few threads on this - here's one:

 

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...l=hypermobility

 

My daughter was diagnosed with hypermobility about 3 years ago. She suffered really badly with painful joints and could barely walk as I've described in that thread. She's not so bad now - she has a lot more stamina although she is still very bendy and her joints are liable to pop out of place occasionally. Some days she still fights chronic tiredness as a result of it (the muscles have to work harder).

 

She was referred to a neurologist who gave her an official diagnosis and she had physio for a while. There's no cure - apart from painkillers when the going gets tough. It was predicted that her joints would tighten up again after puberty and this seems to have happened to some extent. (she's 19)

 

K x

[jo jones]

same ere consultant took xrays and that years ago , i had physio for a while but im little anyway and have probs tryin to keep weight on (seriously) kids clothes the lot?? age 11 to 13 i wear and i am nearly 38,,, i also took painkillers for a few years, but now when it wakes me i just change position in bed and it seems to ease (this is due to shoulders poppin) i also have a clicky ankle which i have to click constantly i dont even notice i am doin it anymore!!! i m really active anyway and keep fit runnin after the little one so i think maybe this is why i dont really suffer that much, it is horrible seein my boys in pain though and will hopefully get sum sense when paed sees him again!

[justamum]

Kathryn

 

It was predicted that her joints would tighten up again after puberty and this seems to have happened to some extent.

 

Use HMSers hear this all the time from medics...I am 46 now and can touch my toes more than I could 30 years. Whilst my joints may not appear to medics as being hypermobile to doctors (do to physios) I get far more dislocations now.

[Kathryn]

Jo - I hope you get some help for your son.

 

Justamum - thanks for sharing that. What helps you cope with this condition?

 

L is still just as flexible but she doesn't seem to be in so much pain nowadays. At one stage she was walking with a crutch and suffering severe fatigue with the slightest physical effort - she's greatly improved over the last couple of years.

 

K x

[justamum]

What helps you cope with this condition?

 

Just coming to an understanding with myself that life dishes out stuff and you have to make the best of it. BUT pacing yourself is the best advise I can give. So what if it took me 6 months to paint my lounge. I did it. I finished!

 

Understand your limitations and don't go over them, too often

[Roseweave]

Okay, turns out I do have Hypermobility, was at the physio today. What is the related between Hypermobility and Autism/Aspregers and how do I cope with it?

 

I have 15' more freedom than I should in most of my joints.