These are some notes that I’ve compiled over the last few years related to Tai Chi practice and hypermobility. This is a work in progress.
- Hypermobility is a genetic defect where collagen (structural material) and flexogen (stretchy material) are present in your body in the wrong proportions. Depending on how this condition manifests, this can result in stretchy skin, very flexible limbs, poor posture, chronic pain, and even some life-threatening conditions if blood vessels are involved.
- The main challenge with hypermobility is the imbalance mentioned above – most people with hypermobility will experience greater ease in stretching and limberness, but at the expense of raw strength due to the lack of collagen in muscle tissue.
- To compensate for this, almost everyone with hypermobility will need to perform strength conditioning just to get to the normal strength baseline required to condition your body for Tai Chi (or many other forms of exercise)
- You will need to focus more on keeping the knees in line with the toes than most.
- You will need to be very careful with footwear and balance to prevent knee injuries. Test the ground you are on before you start practicing for slipping and sticking before practicing.
- You will likely have flat feet due to a lack of strength in your arches. This can be corrected over a period of months, starting with the conditioning below.
- Strength conditioning with hypermobility has to proceed with care, as using wrist or ankle weights can lead to subluxations and disolcations. A full-body weight approach is best, and an adjustable weight vest where the weight is iron pellets distributed across the whole vest is also best.
- Recommended conditioning:
- Buy a 4-10 pound weight vest. Take out all the weight to start.
- Use the weight vest for 15 minutes to 60 minutes a day during your general activities.
- If you use any braces or other medical devices for hypermobility, keep using them!
- When it stops being a strain at the current weight level, add another weight pouch and repeat step 2 until you hit 8 pounds.
- When you hit 8 pounds for a few weeks without issue, experiment without the braces for short periods of time. I would recommend keeping the weight vest off at first until your body gives you good feedback.