If you have hypermobility or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), finding the right approach to exercise can take a little trial and error. You might love pushing yourself at the gym or getting out for a run, but not the soreness, wobbly joints or feeling that you’ve overdone it afterwards.

With hypermobility, building strength around your joints is key to supporting you through movement. With stronger muscles providing more support, you can start to feel steadier and more in control of your movement. That might look like feeling stronger through a squat, trusting your shoulders more in the pool, or heading out for a run, hike or game of sport with more confidence in your body.

Whether you’re just getting started, returning after a flare-up or looking for a better way to exercise with hypermobility, we’ll take you through some gentle joint stability exercises and practical tips to help you build from where you are.

 

How Exercises for Hypermobility Help

When someone has hypermobility or hypermobile EDS (hEDS), the connective tissue that normally provides passive support to the joints is more lax than it should be, meaning your muscles have to do extra work to hold things in place. The aim of a targeted exercise program is to give those muscles the strength and coordination they need to do that job reliably.

The primary focus is on three things:

• • Building joint stability by strengthening the muscles that surround and support each joint
  • Developing core strength as a foundation before progressing to more demanding movement
  • Improving proprioception, which is your body’s sense of where it is in space

Proprioception matters more than most people realise. In hypermobile joints, the signals that normally tell your nervous system exactly where your limbs are positioned can be less reliable.

Exercises that train proprioception help your body respond faster and more accurately to changes in joint position, reducing the risk of subluxations (partial dislocation) or sudden instability. A simple starting example is standing on one leg on a firm surface or shifting your weight slowly between your feet while paying attention to foot and ankle alignment.

When hEDS is part of the picture, there are additional considerations. Because hEDS affects connective tissue throughout the entire body, not just the joints, exercise tolerance and recovery time become especially important. Fatigue, both physical and post-exertional, is a real and common challenge that needs to be factored into any program from the outset.

 

Symptoms of Hypermobility

People with hypermobility often share a recognisable cluster of challenges. Understanding these can help you feel less alone and more confident about why a tailored approach matters.

Common experiences include:

• • Chronic joint pain, particularly after activity or periods of sustained posture
  • Muscle tightness that doesn’t seem to resolve with stretching
  • Physical and mental fatigue, sometimes disproportionate to the effort involved
  • Recurrent subluxations or dislocations
  • Varying levels of exercise tolerance from day to day
  • Co-occurring conditions including gut issues, reproductive health concerns, chronic headaches, migraines, and mental health challenges

If any of these sounds familiar, these can all be signs of hypermobility or hEDS. If you don’t have a diagnosis but recognise some of these experiences in your own body, book an appointment with our physios to help you better understand what’s going on and how to move forward.

 

Is Strength Training Safe with Hypermobility?

Strength training is not only safe for people with hypermobility; it’s one of the most important tools available for long-term management.

If your joints have subluxed or dislocated before, the idea of loading them further can feel counterintuitive or even dangerous. But avoiding strength training leaves the muscles surrounding those joints underprepared, which actually increases instability over time.

The key is sequencing. Working on joint stability and proprioception first, then progressing load slowly and deliberately, allows your body to adapt at a pace it can tolerate. Many people with hEDS are surprised to find that consistent, well-structured strength training reduces their joint pain rather than worsening it. The muscles become better support structures, and the joints carry less strain as a result.

Building that confidence in movement takes time, particularly if you’ve had difficult experiences before. That’s not a personal failing. It’s a completely reasonable response to having been hurt by exercise in the past. A slow, supported start is not a compromise; it’s the right approach. Our women’s health exercise physiology service is designed with exactly this kind of careful, condition-aware progression in mind.

 

The Case for Strengthening Over Stretching

If you have hypermobility, stretching is generally not what your body needs to do more. People with hypermobility often feel like their muscles are tight, and the natural response is to stretch. This provides short-term relief, but it doesn’t address the underlying issue. In fact, static stretching, which means holding a stretch at your end range, is generally not recommended for hypermobile joints. It can contribute to further laxity in already vulnerable tissue without providing lasting benefit.

Strength training through the full range of joint motion is what moves the needle the most. When the muscles are strong throughout their entire range, they provide support where the connective tissue cannot. That’s what creates lasting change.

If you want to work on mobility, focus on dynamic movements that take your joints through their range without holding at the end point. A cat-cow stretch, for example, moves the spine through flexion and extension without forcing it into a static position. That kind of movement is far more useful than passive stretching.

 

Beyond the Joints: How Exercise Helps the Bigger Picture

One of the most consistent findings in hypermobility management is that the benefits of exercise extend well beyond joint stability.

Pain: As the muscles surrounding the joints become stronger, the joints themselves carry less strain. For many people, this translates to a meaningful reduction in chronic joint pain over time. Our post on chronic pain physio for women explores the broader relationship between pain, conditioning, and recovery in more detail.

Fatigue: Did you know, deconditioning makes fatigue worse, not better? Exercise, at the right intensity and with appropriate pacing, is actually one of the most evidence-based interventions for fatigue management.  Graded activity, progressed carefully, helps regulate the system and build energy tolerance.

Confidence in movement: Perhaps the most underappreciated benefit is the shift that comes from exercising in a supported environment with professionals who understand your condition. Building trust in your own body after difficult experiences with movement takes time, but it is possible. Many people find that consistent, well-supported exercise significantly improves their sense of what their body can do, and their willingness to keep doing it.

 

Before You Start: Understanding How to Pace Yourself

Pacing is one of the most important parts of exercising with hypermobility, but it can also be one of the hardest things to get right.

On a good day, it can be tempting to make the most of feeling well and squeeze in a little more. An extra set at the gym, a longer walk, a harder class. However, you might feel fine at the time, only to notice the extra fatigue, soreness or joint pain later that day or the next.

This is where pacing comes in. Rather than waiting until your body tells you it’s had enough, the idea is to finish while you still feel like you have something left in the tank. It can help you build strength more consistently without getting caught in the boom-bust cycle of doing too much, needing several days to recover and then starting all over again.

Ways to put pacing into practice include:

• • Finishing your session before you feel exhausted. As a general guide, you might aim to finish feeling like you’ve used around 70 to 80% of your available energy.
  • Planning rest days into your week, rather than only resting once you’re already feeling depleted.
  • Paying attention to how you feel over the next 24 to 48 hours, not just how you feel during the workout.

If you’re not sure where to begin, two to three sessions a week with at least one rest day in between can be a reasonable starting point. You might begin with one set of each exercise, see how your body responds and gradually build from there.

If you notice more joint pain, significant fatigue or soreness that sticks around for longer than 48 hours, ease things back a little. It doesn’t mean exercise isn’t working for you. You may simply need to adjust how much you’re doing and give your body a little more time to adapt.

These are general starting points, and there’s no one exercise routine that will suit everyone with hypermobility. An Exercise Physiologist can help you find a starting point that suits your current strength, symptoms and the activities you’d like to get back to. You may also find our post on return to exercise support helpful if you’re working your way back into regular movement.

 

How to Read Your Body’s Signals During Exercise

Knowing when to continue and when to stop is a skill that takes time to develop, but a few principles can help.

Muscle fatigue during exercise is normal. A mild burning sensation in the muscle being worked, or the effort required to maintain form, is expected. This is different from joint pain, which feels sharp, pinching, unstable, or located inside the joint rather than in the surrounding muscle.

If you experience joint pain during an exercise, stop and modify rather than push through. This might mean reducing your range of motion, switching to an easier variation, or ending the session early.

Some muscle soreness in the day or two following exercise is also normal, particularly when you’re starting out. This should feel manageable and resolve within 48 hours. Soreness that is severe, worsening, or accompanied by joint instability is a sign to reduce load.

If you experience a subluxation during or after exercise, rest, support the area if needed, and don’t return to that movement until you’ve had a chance to discuss it with a health professional.

 

Best Joint Stability Exercises for Hypermobility

As a general guide, start with one to two sets of eight to ten repetitions per exercise, two to three times per week, with at least one rest day between sessions. This is a starting framework only; your Exercise Physiologist will adjust this to suit your individual needs and tolerance.

Side-Lying Hip Strengthening

Target: Hip strength and stability

How to do it: Lie on your side with your head supported and your bottom leg bent in front of your hip. Extend your top leg long. From here, lift and lower the top leg in a controlled movement, keeping the hips stacked. For an additional challenge, make small circles with the top leg.

Why it helps: This builds strength in the hip muscles in a supported position, reducing the demand on the joint itself while developing the stability needed for upright activities.

Modification: If the extended leg position is too challenging, bend the top leg and perform the same movements. This reduces the lever arm and makes the exercise more manageable.

Supine Single Leg Table Top Lift and Lower

Target: Core strength and hip stability

How to do it: Lie on your back with both knees bent and feet flat. Keeping your hips and shoulders still, slowly lift one leg until your knee is directly above your hip at a 90-degree angle, then lower it back down. The challenge is keeping your pelvis completely stable throughout.

Why it helps: This engages the core musculature and hip stabilisers to maintain a neutral position while one leg moves, which is exactly the kind of control needed for functional daily movement.

Progression: Place a rolled towel along the length of your spine. This creates a less stable base, making it more challenging to keep the hips still throughout the movement.

Bird Dog

Target: Core strength, hip and shoulder stability

How to do it: Begin on hands and knees with your wrists under your shoulders and knees under your hips. Keeping your hips and shoulders square to the floor, extend one arm forward and the opposite leg behind you simultaneously. Hold briefly, then return and alternate sides.

Why it helps: This challenges core strength and joint stability in a position that is more demanding than lying down, building toward the control needed for upright and loaded movements.

Modification: Move one limb at a time rather than opposite pairs. Extend only the arm, return, then extend only the leg. This keeps the movement more stable while you build strength and coordination.

Knee Hovers

Target: Core strength, hip and shoulder stability, shoulder and quad strength

How to do it: Begin on hands and knees with toes pressing into the floor. Maintaining a straight spine and strong shoulder position, lift the knees just one to two centimeters off the floor. Think about creating space through your collarbone and gently pressing the mid-back away from the floor. Hold briefly, then lower back down.

Why it helps: This builds strength and stability in a more challenging position, requiring the shoulders, core, and hips to work together to maintain form.

Modification: If this is uncomfortable on the wrists, place your elbows on a couch or step while your knees remain on the floor. This reduces the load through the wrists while maintaining the core challenge.

Wall Sit

Target: Quad and hip strength, isometric loading

How to do it: Stand with your back against a wall and feet hip-width apart, about 30 to 45 centimetres from the wall. Slide down the wall until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor, or as close as is comfortable. Hold the position for five to fifteen seconds, then slide back up.

Why it helps: The wall sit is a useful introduction to isometric loading for the lower limb. The wall provides feedback and support, and because the joints aren’t moving during the hold, it places lower demands on joint stability while still building meaningful quad and hip strength.

Modification: If a deep position is uncomfortable, hold at a shallower angle. Even a partial squat position against the wall provides useful isometric training.

Scapular Setting

Target: Shoulder stability and upper back strength

How to do it: Sit or stand tall. Without shrugging or rolling your shoulders forward, gently draw your shoulder blades together and slightly downward, as if you were trying to tuck them into your back pockets. Hold for five to eight seconds, then release. Repeat ten times.

Why it helps: Shoulder hypermobility is common and can contribute to pain, instability, and difficulty with everyday tasks. Scapular setting builds the foundational muscle control needed to stabilise the shoulder joint, and it can be done anywhere without any equipment.

Progression: Progress to performing this exercise while your arms are extended in a Y or T shape, which increases the demand on the muscles around the shoulder blade.

 

What to Be Cautious With

Static stretching: As discussed above, holding stretches at your end range is generally not recommended. If you want to work on mobility, focus on dynamic movements like cat-cow that take you through range without forcing a sustained hold.

High-impact and explosive movement: Activities like jumping, boxing, or running can sometimes exacerbate joint aches and fatigue in people with hEDS. This doesn’t mean they’re permanently off the table. Building a strong foundation of joint stability and proprioception first creates a safer pathway back to impact-based activities over time. An Exercise Physiologist can help you identify when that transition is appropriate for your specific situation.

Going too hard too fast: Hypermobile bodies may need more time to adapt to new exercise demands. Slow progressions and pacing strategies are the most reliable way to build capacity without setback.

 

For a Gentle Return to Exercise, Start with Isometric Work

For some people, particularly those with more significant joint instability or those returning after a dislocation, isometric exercises are the safest starting point.

Isometric exercises engage the muscles without moving the joint. They build foundational strength in a controlled, stable way that places very little demand on the joint itself.

A simple example is an isometric glute squeeze: sitting or lying down, you gently squeeze your glutes as firmly as you can without any movement, hold for five to ten seconds, then release.

Another is a seated quad activation, where you press the back of your knee gently toward the floor while tightening the muscles on the front of your thigh, again without any movement.

These exercises may not look like much, but they are useful starting points for building the neuromuscular connection between brain and muscle that more advanced movements rely on.

Once you’re tolerating isometric work comfortably, you can progress to weight-bearing movements.

 

A Note on Age, Pregnancy, and Changing Needs

Hypermobility and its management look different across the lifespan.

Teenagers generally have the greatest joint mobility, making stability, coordination, and strength the primary focus at this stage. In older adults, where natural stiffening of the joints tends to reduce some of the hypermobility, the focus often shifts toward proprioception, functional mobility, and falls prevention.

If you’re pregnant and already hypermobile, there are specific considerations worth knowing. Pregnancy hormones naturally increase joint flexibility, which can amplify existing challenges. Greater joint pain (particularly in the lower back and pelvic girdle), increased fatigue, and a higher risk of pelvic organ concerns during and after pregnancy are all more likely in hypermobile bodies. Our guide to safe exercises during pregnancy covers how to approach movement during this stage with appropriate caution.

Postpartum, the body begins returning to its baseline, but this process can take longer for people with hypermobility. Extra care with return-to-exercise timing and attention to posture during feeding are both worth discussing with your care team.

 

Exercising with Hypermobility FAQs

Why do my muscles feel so tight if I’m hypermobile?

This is one of the most common sources of confusion for people with hypermobility. When joints are unstable, the muscles surrounding them work harder to compensate. That sustained effort leads to a feeling of tightness, even though the underlying tissue is actually more lax than average. Stretching provides temporary relief but doesn’t address the cause. Strengthening through the full range of motion is what gradually reduces that chronic tension.

Can I do exercises for hypermobility at home?

Yes, and many of the exercises described in this guide are well suited to a home environment. The most important thing is starting conservatively, progressing slowly, and having professional guidance to set you on the right path. An Exercise Physiologist can design a home programme specific to your presentation and monitor your progress over time.

How do exercises for Ehlers-Danlos syndrome differ from general strengthening?

Exercises for Ehlers-Danlos syndrome are built around the recognition that hEDS is rarely the only factor at play. A thorough initial assessment would look at your health history, co-occurring conditions, mental health, lifestyle factors, and personal goals before a movement assessment determines your appropriate starting point. For someone with strong muscle strength but significant post-exertional fatigue, the focus might be almost entirely on pacing strategies. For someone newly diagnosed with limited exercise history, the starting point might be isometric exercises only. The programme is built around the whole person, not just the joints.

What if I’ve had a subluxation before? Can I still exercise?

Yes. A history of subluxations is not a reason to avoid exercise. It’s a reason to approach exercise carefully and with appropriate guidance. Working through a qualified Exercise Physiologist ensures that the exercises you’re doing are matched to your current stability and capacity, and that you have clear guidance on what to do if symptoms arise during or after a session.

I’ve tried exercise before and it made things worse. Why would this be different?

Generic exercise programmes are not designed for hypermobile bodies. The pacing is often too aggressive, the movements too loaded, and the lack of condition-specific knowledge means that well-intentioned advice can cause real harm. The exercises for hypermobility described in this guide are specifically selected for their stability-building focus, low joint demand, and adaptability. When delivered by a professional who understands your condition, the experience is fundamentally different from following a general fitness programme.

 

Working With an Exercise Physiologist

Exercises for hypermobility are most effective when they’re designed around you specifically. Your severity of joint laxity, your history of subluxations or dislocations, your fatigue levels, your co-occurring conditions, and your personal goals all shape what an appropriate programme looks like.

At North West Healthy Women, our Exercise Physiologists work with women managing hypermobility and hEDS to build programmes that account for all of these factors. We begin with a comprehensive assessment that covers your full health picture, and we perform a movement assessment to determine where your starting point should be. From there, we build gradually, adjust based on your response, and support you in developing the kind of trust in movement that makes long-term management genuinely achievable.

If you’d like to talk about whether Exercise Physiology is the right fit for you, we’d love to hear from you, get in touch to start the conversation.