Too Flexible To Feel Good: A Practical Roadmap to Managing Hypermobility

by Celeste Pereira, Bridges Adell

Are you overly flexible or double-jointed? Perhaps you are the clumsy and tired person in your group of friends, often nursing an injury of some sort. If you are nodding in agreement with raised eyebrows and a knowing smirk on your face, then there is a chance you are hypermobile.

Hypermobility affects a whopping 10 to 25 percent of the population (meaning it’s more common than being left-handed, standing over six feet tall, or having a third nipple), and it can cause symptoms ranging from minor discomfort to debilitating pain. Hypermobile people’s bendiness and tendency toward anxiety often lead them to yoga, where they find that they are at last praised for their physical ability and given tools to manage their hypersensitivity. However, the way yoga is taught frequently leaves this population susceptible to severe injuries, and they end up being told by medical professionals to avoid yoga.

In this epic new book, fitness experts Adell Bridges and Celest Pereira redefine how to manage hypermobility, providing a practical roadmap that will enable you to harness your bendiness and feel fantastic. They reinforce the importance of stability, correct posture, and a healthy lifestyle, showing how, if managed properly, hypermobility is not debilitating but a superpower that you can use to live an extraordinary life. Too Flexible to Feel Good teaches you how to adapt your everyday habits such as your biomechanics and your diet to support and nourish your flexible body. This book also
• Practical tips on how to hold your body for optimal results during training
• Tools to help build awareness of your joint position in everyday life
• Strategies for busting anxiety
• Exercises that can improve your biomechanics
• Diet and sleep considerations

Too Flexible to Feel Good is also an invaluable resource for yoga teachers, fitness instructors, and medical professionals, helping them develop a deeper understanding of how best to help this population.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Fitness

240 pages, Paperback

Published October 12, 2021

Reviews

[Anne D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, let me start by saying that I am very happy that 2021 has brought us not one but two books on hypermobility and yoga. This one, written by Celest Pereira and Adell Bridges, is certainly very well illustrated and easy to read. I fully agree with many 5-star reviews on the yoga/physical movement/basics of hypermobility content.

While I understand that the authors want to point out that hypermobile people also have digestive issues, I believe they did not do a good job in this chapter. Sugar is bad, sugar = inflammation, fake it till you make it by telling yourself “I’m soooo excited to not eat this.”… No, no, no. I mean, yes, this could be true for people with very specific auto-immune diseases, but in general, no, no, no. Please inform yourself before just writing down what wellness/diet culture wants you to write down. I highly recommend checking resources from Christy Harrison, to give but one example. People on the hypermobile spectrum are also more likely to have eating disorders. I hope the food chapter in this book does not put some readers on the wrong path.

[camilla hects pr rep]

every time they were like “just do these 20 exercises for 20 minutes 20 times per day😍” i was like amaya on love island. NOO. Nooo😭 We don’t wanna do that😭 We don’t wanna do that though😭😭😭

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're a yoga practitioner & hypermobile, this would be a good resource.
I *don't* practice yoga and the areas I was hoping they would go into more detail on, they didn't. I have TMJ and arthritis in both thumbs, other than 1 exercise for thumbs, there wasn't any help for me. I've got some exercises from physio for my thumbs but would *really* have appreciated info on hypermobility and TMJ and how to deal with it.
I'll have to rely solely on what the TMJ specialist recommended instead of additional options from the hypermobile angle.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was part informative and part self help. I really liked the picture examples, as well as the connection to neurology and the whole body experience. At times it was a bit repetitive. But overall I got good information and ideas from it.

[Anda]

I saw somebody check this out at the library and had to get in line for it. If you can get past how cheesy the writing is (cringe-worthy, really), then it's an amazing resource for anyone with EDS / hypermobility.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is chock full of misinformation, and language about disabled people that rubs me the wrong way.

[Jess Tremblay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Genuinely awful to read, the concepts are dumbed down so much, but explained so poorly I can't follow them. Why the fuck are we talking about dogs?? I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, with the exception of the most annoying millennial white woman you know who loves medical misinformation with a Natural Health sheen, ugly art, childish jokes, and being called a superhero constantly.

The information about hypermobility is over simplified to the point its just not true. While specifically saying this book isn't about ehlers-danlos syndrome, it gets into concepts that only apply to people who fit the diagnostic criteria for at least HSD, if not hEDS. This deliberately spreads fear about the common and harmless trait of hypermobility. But there's an introduction by a chiropractor hiding behind his title of Dr so what more can be expected.

Its also mostly a yoga book! That should be on the cover. I gained no new information or helpful tips

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by the specialist who diagnosed me with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Imagine my surprise when, in the intro to the book, the authors acknowledged that hEDS adds another layer of complexity that they wouldn’t be getting into. 🙃

Regardless, I found this book to be extremely helpful. Recognizing the mind/body connection with hypermobility wasn’t something I’d heard much about, but the psychological manifestations of it make a ton of sense.

I think this made a lot of medical info feel really accessible and gave me hope for my future as an overly bendy person. I appreciated the suggestions for exercises, but found the instructions for how to do them pretty lacking and the photos didn’t do much to support.

Overall, I liked it. As someone whose doctor told her that under no circumstances was I to do yoga with my wack-ass joints, hearing that it’s not only possible but could be great for my body was a relief.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with what others say — this is too focused on those familiar with yoga. The latter part of the book which talked about anxiety and other comorbidities of hypermobility was much more beneficial. It helped that these sections of the book didn’t have the Carmen Sandiego-type characters and less cringey slang phrases.

This book also uses JHS (Joint Hypermobility Syndrome) which has been replaced by two updated diagnoses: hypermobility spectrum disorder (HSD) and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS). Someone who would have previously been diagnosed with JHS now falls into either the hEDS or HSD category based on whether they meet the 2017 diagnostic criteria.

[TL Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a bit pseudosciencey for me. Like, if you just do these exercises (that I found work for me, a test set of 1) every problem you have ever had will immediately be resolved! Hypermobility affects everything about you, apparently, not just movement and joints. That said, the concepts are interesting to read and the exercises well laid out. It's very hard to learn proper exercise technique from a book however, so if you are struggling, you may want to see a physical therapist or someone first to make sure you are not making your hypermobility issues worse with incorrectly done exercises.

[Mari Franqula · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a good guide/resource for those of us with hypermobility. The diagrams, exercises and explanations really help to understand and and work with this disorder. I even showed it to my doctor when my issues were really bad and they approved of it. 5/5

[Audio Athena · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't finish this one. I found the pictures with the goofy smiles and the jokes way too cheesy to take it seriously. If I was 12, maybe then it'd be helpful. It didn't feel like it was a book for adults.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. So much info. Will refer to it for probably the rest of my life.

[Paulina Valenzuela Lagos]

I wish the structure were different. It has a lot of information, and it's very detailed, but I don't even dare to try yoga. So, I still don't find a way to feel good.

[Joanne Pinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loaded with easy to understand information about how the hyper-mobile body works - and doesn’t work! Very illuminating!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only read this today and already its changed my life

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so enlightening! I learned a lot about myself, and gained some great tips on strengthening my joints/muscles. I will definitely be referencing this in the future.

4 Stars

[Annaleah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Feels patronizing and like it's written for elementary aged kids. Dnf @12% despite being recommended by my Dr. Cannot get past the annoying, immature writing style.

[Acousticsteph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful and informative.

[Anji M · Rating 5 out of 5]

First a major criticism of a five star book. This books should not be limited to the hypermobile. The information is well researched, cited, and beneficial to anyone with a body. Yes there is hypermobile specific information but I think 90% of the info would also benefit the non-hypermobile. There is a really good balance of scientific information presented in an easy to digest way (even if a bit silly at times) as well as movement/exercise advice. The book does not fall into the trap I’ve seen with a lot of movement oriented books where they give a bit of information and then spend a hundred pages showing exercises that would be better presented in a video. There are pages devoted to exercises but they are tied to the research and the why as much as the how.