#beighton test

These pictures of me doing the Beighton test were originally for my own reference. I can't really see how hypermobile I am, nor can I always feel when I'm hyperextending, so it's good to have some images to help me calibrate my internal feelings with reality. I've tossed up whether or not I want to post them online because I feel it's problematic to 'model' hypermobility and to conflate these images with what EDS looks like. People with hypermobility are not put on this Earth to perform party tricks. And also, you can be hypermobile and not be particularly flexible. A lot of people with hypermobile joints have a lot of muscle tension because the muscles have to work much harder in order to keep their skeleton together. Tension makes performing some of the Beighton test items really tricky. In the end, I've decided that I'd post it because lots of people haven't heard of hypermobility, but lots of people have hypermobile joints. Sometimes EDS is called a rare condition, but in reality it's probably more underdiagnosed than rare. Again, this post is made to raise awareness of hypermobility, JHS, and EDS, BUT I also want to caution that manifestations of these conditions might not look the way I look. Just because you see yourself as unflexible, doesn't mean you can necessarily rule out hypermobility. Likewise, being super flexible (or even hypermobile) is not itself any cause of concern.

So here’s what these images are/mean in terms of the Beighton test:

Image One - 1 point for each elbow that extends backwards over 10 degrees.

Image Two - 1 point for each knee that extends backwards over 10 degrees. Now, this can be hard to see. Note that if you look at the back of my legs, my knees don't look like they're hyperextending. That's just because the backs of my legs are super curvy. To see the backwards, hyperextended angle, you have to look to the front of my legs.

Image Three - 1 point if your palms rest flat on the floor with knees extended. I feel like this is a super-problematic way of looking at hypermobility. I've tended to be able to touch my toes through my life, but probably at various times my hamstrings would have been too tight to get anywhere near to palms flat on the ground. Hamstring tightness is very common, and it obviously will affect your ability to do this. So can compression. If you have a bigger belly or thighs, it's harder to touch the ground because they'd get in the way. Sometimes it's better to look at the party tricks you were able to do as a kid. Could you do the splits, for example? I once caused myself a nosebleed by kicking myself in the face. That's not so much a party trick as peak uncoordination, but you get the idea.

Image Four - 1 point for each thumb that can reach your wrist.