What Type of Hypermobile Are You? Hypertonic vs. Hypotonic Muscles

Do you ever feel tight even though you’re hypermobile? It doesn’t make sense, right? You stretch constantly, but no matter how many times you touch your toes, the tension persists. You’re not alone. Many with hypermobility syndrome and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) face this paradox. Today, we’ll uncover what it means to be hypertonic vs. hypotonic why this happens and what you can do about it.

Your muscles can be hypertonic or hypotonic. Hypertonic muscles are always tense, like they’re stuck in a state of contraction. They’re tight and stiff. On the other hand, hypotonic muscles are too relaxed. They lack tone and strength. Both can be problematic, but in different ways.

People with hypertonia have abnormally high levels of tension in their muscles, even at rest. If you have hypertonic muscles, it makes your body feel tight and restricted. As a result, we feel the desire to stretch and lengthen your muscles out. Rather than having a positive impact, however, what we’re ultimately doing is stretching out our unstable joints even further. And as a result, our muscles contract even more in order to create a sense of “fake” support and stability in the body. This creates a vicious loop where we stretch to feel temporarily alleviated, but actually cause more long term issues.

Those with hypotonia, on the other hand, have abnormally low amounts of muscle tension, and as such can’t support the joints well. This looks more like our “stereotypical” hypermobile person that is super bendy and flexible. This type of hypermobility spectrum disorder is often associated with dancers and gymnasts, because they excel at putting their body’s in extreme contortions and stretches. However, the same principle of overstretching applies. Individuals that are hypotonic are often encouraged to stretch more to maintain their limber function, even though it puts strain on their joints as well.

Impact on Range of Motion and Stability Training Exercises

Hypertonic muscles can seriously limit your range of motion, which is the paradox of hypermobility disorder. They keep your joints from moving freely, and often the tight muscles will do a sort of “death grip” in order to keep your joints stabilized. This overcompensating muscles can cause pain and lead to other muscles overworking to compensate even further. It’s a chain reaction that can affect your entire body.

This is where stability training comes in. Stability exercises help you balance out muscle tone. Motion training strengthens the hypotonic muscles and relaxes the hypertonic ones. By focusing on stability, you can reduce excessive muscle tone and improve your overall movement. It’s about finding that sweet spot where your muscles support your joints without being too tight or too loose.

If you’re looking for stability exercises to improve your hypermobile joints, check out our hypermobile-specific youtube channel for resources and education on how to effectively relieve your tension and re-stabilize your joints.