Hypermobility Without Tears: Moving Pain-Free with Hypermobility and EDS

by Jeannie Helen Di Bon

Hypermobility Without Tears is a step-by-step guide to help people with hypermobility and Ehler-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) learn how to move pain-free and effortlessly. A movement therapist and hypermobility specialist with over a decade of education, research, client practice and Pilates teaching, Jeannie is an expert in the field of movement. Her own experience of hypermobile EDS, leaves her uniquely qualified to guide people with hypermobility and EDS back to movement and a 'no pain, no strain' lifestyle. Having suffered through years of misdiagnosis and pain, Jeannie truly understands the 'hypermobile body' and her book offers empathetic guidance on how to listen to the body and learn to move without pain. Hypermobility Without Tears is arranged into six sections based on Jeannie's key principles of pain-free movement for the hypermobile breath, relaxation, proprioception, stability, balance and posture.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Fitness

144 pages, Paperback

Published May 9, 2019

Reviews

[Alina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot. I was already familiar with Jeannie di Bon's work when I started the book, so most of the ideas were not new to me. The book is simple and very practical, although it did seem to me a bit too concise at times.
I particurarly liked her emphasis on the importance of muscle relaxation and breath work, and especially the analogy with the inflatable Christmas Santa - I resonated so good with that. Dealing with chronic pain for years, caused by joint hypermobility, I've tried tens of physical therapies without any luck. However, the unwinding techniques for relaxing the muscles, that Jeannie shares in this book, have done wonders for me, and I couldn't be more grateful about it. I can't understand why rehab in general doesn't put a bigger emphasis on muscle relaxation, since working out an already tense muscle is just a receipe for more pain.
I would have appreciated if the book had shared more info on ligament laxity in general, and the different connected conditions that can appear with it, since each of those could have more particular lines of treatmant. I also think managing the readers' expectations in terms of healing time could habe been good, as I felt like from the book one can expect to heal by just trying the IMM once or so, and this is definitely not the case.
That being said, all in all, thus is an extremely valuable, maybe even life changing, book for people with joint hypermobility.

[camilla hects pr rep · Rating 4 out of 5]

crazy how so many doctors have given me advice thats directly counterproductive to living with hypermobility. some of this i already knew and i’m not sure how much practical use i got out of it but it was still enlightening and almost made me cry on my flight so ❤️

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much appreciated the breath work joined with the movement. Jeannie writes with such positivity and groundedness, I felt better just doing the reading... thank you!

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just started Jeannie's online videos. The videos seem a lot more helpful than the book to me. I didn't feel like there was a lot of extra content as far as I don't think I needed the book. I did like the discussion of proprioception. Also, I had done pilates prior to being diagnosed with EDS and I felt it did help to read the sections of the book on breathing to try to understand why we will be doing the breathing differently in the videos.

[kindra | kindrareads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written for clients with hypermobility and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) by a Movement Therapist who herself lives life with hypermobility and has used the techniques described within to improve her own quality of life. She incorporates her Pilates training and describes her own method for combatting chronic pain called the Integral Movement Method (IMM). Di Bon wraps the book with a line from the Wizard of Oz and good wishes for clients to develop resilience.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The advice seems very good, but it’s written as if you’re in a session with someone who’s speaking out loud, and is thus almost completely impossible to follow. For example, there are breathing exercises where you have to lie on your stomach and close your eyes, and then long, detailed paragraphs follow for what to do while your eyes are closed…but your eyes are closed, so you can’t read them. I may try to get a PT or similar to work through the exercises with me, will update my review if I do.

[Megan Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had some great points about movement and stability of hypermobile bodies!

Upon flipping through it, I almost reshelved it as I saw brief mention of Pilates and photos of proper form. This brought forth a mighty eye roll, BUT when I actually started reading, things started making sense! Typical Pilates form isn't helpful for hypermobile bodies.

I'm so glad I picked this up and took the time to read. Highly recommend!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading challenge category - 2022 52 Book Club: An Independently Published Book.

This would be a good introductory book for anyone who is just starting to learn about EDS and their body. A lot of the information is generalizable, but repetitive. If you've had a diagnosis for any amount of time, you've already seen this information.

[Cathy Sommer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book mainly because I recognized Jeannie's thinking and ways of working, she being very similar to what we do in Alexander Technique. I am surprised and sorry that she had to discover all of that through lengthy research, as efficient ways to get these results have already been invented (look into AT). Otherwise wonderful introduction and pleasureable to read.

[Kathy Van Zeyl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read, practical, with some solid insights in there for the hypermobile/EDS peeps!

[Rebekah Sturgill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish this book were longer but the combination of information and practical exercises means that the few pages it has are really heavy hitters.