Hypermobility Unit

Welcome to the Hypermobility Unit in London, one of the leading providers of hypermobility services in the UK.
Our specialist physiotherapists are here to help you manage your hypermobility, and optimise your health and wellbeing.

Our Service

Our specialist hypermobility team are here to understand exactly how hypermobility affects you, and work with you to create a personalised treatment plan to help manage your condition, and optimise your overall health and wellbeing.

Our Expertise

Our Hypermobility Unit is staffed by specialist physiotherapists with extensive experience and knowledge of:

Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders (HSD)
Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS)
Related symptoms and conditions

Meet the Team

For All Your Needs

Conditions we can help with include:

Joint instability
Chronic pain and fatigue
Muscle pain and stiffness
Developmental coordination disorder
Orthostatic intolerance
Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)
Headache
Gastrointestinal and bladder dysfunction
Mast cell activation disorder

How Physiotherapy Helps Treat Hypermobility

Physiotherapy can be used to help those with hypermobile joints to:

Reduce pain
Improve muscle strength and fitness
Improve posture
Correct the movement of individual joints

Dysfunctional muscle patterns are common when the joints are significantly stressed, and this may allow them to move into unsuitable positions where they suffer strains.

Physiotherapy can help with retraining of correct muscle patterns and treatment of painful joints. The largest component in this programme is self-management and so patient education is vital.

With hypermobility, an acute flare up is more likely to occur with unaccustomed activities (or exercise), minor trauma, or prolonged static postures over extended periods of time (e.g. computer work).

Joint hypermobility syndrome is a lifelong condition, so individuals need to ensure they manage their postures and activities daily.

Our Unique Network Of Hypermobility Specialists

Hypermobility patients vary hugely in the severity of their symptoms and some may require the involvement of consultants and therapists from more than one speciality.

We have developed an extensive support network of trusted, specialist medical and therapy clinics around London. This enables us to provide a unique, joined-up personal treatment plan, in collaboration with our specialist partners, to give you the best possible outcome.

Physiotherapy is an integral part of the multidisciplinary management of HSD and hEDS across the lifespan.

Depending on your individual needs the therapist will work alongside medical consultants, general practitioners, podiatrists, health psychologists, occupational and therapists, women’s health physiotherapists, occupational health, schools, teachers, PE teachers, sports coaches, dance teachers, NHS teams and other health care providers to deliver the best possible care.

What Does Hypermobility Treatment Involve?

1 Initial Assessment

First you'll meet one of our specialist physiotherapists for a thorough assessment. This will allow you to get to know each other and enable us to fully understand your needs.

2 Personlised Plan

Your physiotherapist will work with you to develop an individualised, holistic, goal-oriented treatment plan. This will provide both short and long term treatment plan.

3 We'll Work Together

We'll work through your plan together. This will include education about the condition, lifestyle advice and how to manage symptoms such as chronic pain and fatigue.

4 Additional Interventions

Depending on your needs, we may also provide ergonomic advice, posture and gait re-education, manual therapy, hydrotherapy, taping, electrotherapy, acupuncture and exercise therapy.

5 Duration

The initial consultation takes around 90 minutes in total. This is a face-to-face session at one of our Central London clinics.

More About The Initial Consultation

Please allow up to an hour and a half for your first appointment, although this may include report writing by the physiotherapist.

The examination will include gathering information about your symptoms (attained from your specific history), followed by a detailed physical examination to identify how your symptoms are affecting you day to day.

The assessment will conclude with a discussion on the treatment planned and there will be time to answer any questions you may have.

You may be asked to undress as part of the assessment so it may be worth bringing shorts/vest top.

A report is written detailing the proposed treatment plan and this is sent to your consultant, with a copy for you.

More About Treatment Sessions

Treatment will be carried out at our clinic by a member of the hypermobility team.

As people often come from some distance it may be more convenient to have treatment closer to home. In these cases the report detailing the recommended treatment will be sent to you and your GP to be passed to the relevant physiotherapist.

Treatment sessions take between 30 to 60 minutes and will be carried out on a one-to-one basis by one of the specialist hypermobility physiotherapists.

If you are covered by insurance you may need to check whether they have limitations on the amount of physiotherapy you are entitled to.

Treatment is specific to the individual and based on the presentation and history. It is frequently multi-faceted and may include some or all of the following:

Manual therapy including massage
Manual joint mobilisation
Muscle release/soft tissue mobilization
Electrotherapy
Postural re-education
Specific corrective exercise to improve mobility, muscle performance (strength), balance, proprioception and fitness.
Muscle re-education
Core muscle strengthening
Hydrotherapy (off-site)

Advice and problem-solving is also included in your treatment programme.

Women's Health Physiotherapy

We have a dedicated women’s health physiotherapy team for any incontinence, pelvic floor or pregnancy related issues with specialist skills in the following:

Pelvic floor function
Post gynaecological surgery or childbirth
Bladder retraining and fluid management

Podiatry

For the assessment and supply of foot orthoses (insoles).

This assessment is currently undertaken by the team at the Gait Laboratory off-site although plans are afoot to transfer them to the Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth in the near future.

Flat feet, where the inner part of the feet (the arches) are flattened, are frequently associated with hypermobility. This is due to the foot arches elongating under the body’s weight due to the ligaments on the bottom of your feet being more flexible and foot muscles being weaker.

Correcting your foot biomechanics by wearing insoles, assessed and supplied by our podiatrist, may reduce knee and ankle pain, in conjunction with strengthening exercises.

Shoulder Problems

Shoulder problems are particulary common in hypermobile patients as the shoulder is naturally mobile.

Keeping the large ball of the arm bone centred on the small socket is a challenge to the muscular control and abnormal muscle patterning is common. However, strengthening muscles around the shoulder can help improve the control of the joint and improve symptoms in hypermobile patients.

Why Choose Us For Hypermobility?

Unrivalled Expertise

We are one of the leading providers of hypermobility services in the UK, with years of experience and expertise.

Access Our Network Of Specialists

We have built an extensive support network of trusted specialist medical and therapy clinics around London.

Personalised For You

We provide a joined-up personal treatment plan, together with our specialist partners, to give you the best possible outcome.

5 Star Treatment!

We have built an unrivalled reputation with our patients for delivering the 'gold standard' in hypermobility care.

What Our Patients Say

I have been seeing Tatjana for chronic pain in my neck, upper back and shoulders since moving to the area 3 months ago. I have hypermobility spectrum disorder and fibromyalgia, so it's really important for me to find a good therapist who can listen and adapt to my specific needs. I feel really comfortable and supported by Tatjana's approach: she is patient, encouraging, and she takes so much pride in her work. In our appointments she used a mixture of myofascial release, soft tissue massage, warm bamboo massage, and sports massage. Tatjana will adapt these to find exactly works for you, which is so important especially if you have hypermobility and/or fibro, because what works for one person might not work for you! I can't recommend going enough.

Megan L.

1671897502

After having my first sports massage session with Tatjana for my hypermobility issues, I immediately bought the package for 6 more! She was able to massively increase the movement in my hips through a combination of the following techniques:1) Myofascial release massage2) Sports Massage Therapist3) Soft tissue massage4) Warm Bamboo MassageFurthermore, Tatjana is extremely attentive and kind and ensures the whole way through that the pressure and techniques are comfortable, so you always feel in safe hands.She also kindly explains what she is doing throughout and what the effects of it are, which is so useful as it’s made me more aware of what I may be doing in my daily life that contributes to the issues/pain in the first place.I can’t recommend her enough and feel very lucky to have found her!

Holly B.

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I have been attending CHP Physiotherapy for a number of months now, and there are no words to express how grateful I am. I would highly recommend them.The physiotherapist working with me is highly professional, kind and exceptionally knowledgeable. And the staff are so very friendly.If you have a condition related to hypermobility or any other condition that requires physiotherapy I know that they will be able to make you a personalised physiotherapy plan as they have for myself.Not only do the help you with coming up with a personalised physiotherapy plan, but they also provided an app that has videos that explain the exercises and provide hand-outs that explain your condition with general advice regarding how to specifically manage your condition.Again I could not recommend them highly enough and can't express in words just how grateful I am for their care and help.

Charlotte S.

1670944349

I see Katrina as part of the Hypermobility unit and she is fantastic. If you have joint hypermobility or EDS I couldn't recommend them more. All the staff are brilliant including the booking team, and the online booking service is also very convenient.

Emma A.

1653149996

I've visited Central Health Physiotherapy a number of times over the last few months and would recommend them without any hesitation at all. The reception team have always been friendly and helpful, and I'm under the care of Jason Parry, Clinical Specialist in Hypermobility, who has been absolutely fantastic. As someone who experiences hypermobility myself, Jason has been an incredible fountain of knowledge and support! He took the time to listen to and understand my history and concerns, putting together a package of exercises which I now follow every day. He has also been pivotal in treating an injury I sustained last year, via careful manipulation and targeted exercise. I have never felt better; I feel much stronger, suffer far less pain and am now much more confident in my bendy body holding itself together! And most importantly, I now also feel much better informed about hypermobility as a whole, which will put me in very good stead. I travel to see Jason from Winchester, and it is without a doubt worth the drive! For anyone on the often very long journey to find some relief from hypermobility-related issues, I would strongly recommend booking an appointment. Thank you Central Health!

Sophie H.

1614946779

I have been recently diagnosed with hypermobility and referred to Catherine at Central Health. She is in a word brilliant! So warm and supportive and most importantly knowledgeable about my condition. I can now exercise without being in excruciating pain and I’m starting to feel stronger and more in control of my body. I’m confident that with Catherine’s help and guidance progress will continue and I cannot thank her enough for everything she’s done so far.

M P

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I cannot recommend the Chelsea clinic highly enough. I have received excellent treatment from both Catherine Nutt initially and then Jane Attard. Over the last year, my continued treatment with Jane and her exceptional care and hypermobility expertise has turned my life around in a way I couldn't have imagined. No one wants to have to see a physio, but Jane and the Chelsea team have made it the best that it can be.Thank you to Jane and all the staff at the Chelsea clinic from the bottom of my heart.

Grace M.

1536622252

I’ve been seeing Jane for four months, and I’ve made more progress with my knees with her than I have with any previous physio. She has an excellent knowledge of hEDS and hypermobility syndromes, and this really makes a difference. Within the first consultation, she managed to get a very good understanding of my situation – given that I’ve had multiple problems with my hands, shoulders, hips and knees over the past seven years, this is no mean feat! She was careful to avoid pushing me too far and causing a setback (which has happened with other physios), whilst still progressing the exercises and getting me stronger.I already knew quite a lot about my condition when I went to Jane, so I was glad that she was willing to discuss the principles behind what she was doing.I would whole-heartedly recommend Jane to other people, especially if they have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or hypermobility syndrome.

Ele

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I am indebted to Lucy Rix for providing me with a toolbox to manage Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (Hypermobility Type) at home, a condition which causes problems from my eyes (retina detachment and tears) down to my big toes (hallux limitus).As my hypermobility is generalised, I have a lot of problems with many of my joints/muscles. Lucy is very patient. She writes very clear instructions for the treatment of each problem and has been instrumental in teaching me how to manage pain and pace myself.Lucy's extensive knowledge and holistic approach has enabled me to remain positive and build a new and rewarding life for myself.

Sharon S.

1468622765

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