2022.12.16
Hello, Zeborah Dazzle, PT, WWF here. I am the spokes-zebra and patient educator for Good Health Physical Therapy and Wellness. As some of you know, while I am a physical therapist who treats all kinds of problems, including all kinds of bone and muscle problems, my special interest is hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder (HSD). Sometimes it is wise to pause and go back to basics. That is what I will focus on with this post.
What Kinds of Problems Do HSD and EDS Cause?
Both HSD and hEDS are problems with connective tissue. Connective tissue is what holds the body together and it is everywhere in the body. If connective tissue is weak or fragile, many aspects of body function are affected. First in this area is laxity of the skin and joints.
Skin and Joint
Too stretchy connective tissue makes the skin overly stretchy, and also, makes the joints too mobile – hypermobile. The excessive stretchiness of the joints in particular frequently (but not always) leads to pain. When we say ‘not always’ here, remember that in just about every aspect of these conditions, patients fall on a spectrum from few symptoms to severe.
One of the sub-criteria for diagnosis of hEDS in particular is pain in multiple joints lasting more than three months. Mechanically loose joints and weak or overly stretchy connective tissue can lead both to pain and to a number of secondary problems, such as:
early joint damage including spinal disc damage, neck instability, muscle weakness, headaches and migraines, pelvic pain, TMJ (jaw) pain and clicking, gum disease and dental fractures, chiari malformation (connective tissue weakness at the bottom of the skull allows the lower part of the brain to hang out of the skull opening), tethered cord (spinal cord restriction, usually low in the back).
Nervous System
Additionally, HSD and hEDS can affect the nervous system. This can occur in several ways. Loose joints may be less sensitive to what their position is leading to a decrease of the joint awareness (called proprioception) affecting coordination. Prolonged daily pain may cause the nervous system to become sensitized and to create pain sensations which are out of proportion to the damage being done. And finally, connective tissue deficits can affect the involuntary nervous system of the body.
One of the major divisions of the nervous system is the involuntary, or autonomic, nervous system. The two halves of this system (sympathetic and parasympathetic) are constantly working to keep our bodies in balance and adapted to the world around us. Among the physical functions fully or partially controlled by the involuntary/ autonomic system are: heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, opening and closing of the pupils, gut movements for digestion and release of some digestive juices, and temperature regulation.
Research has shown that most people with HSD or hEDS have at least one or more regular symptoms connected to the involuntary/ autonomic nervous system. Sometimes these symptoms are transient, meaning they come and go. Sometimes there are multiple symptoms rising to the level of a problem syndrome. The general term for this is dysautonomia.
Some patients with HSD/hEDS tolerate standing poorly, which may simply be labeled as Orthostatic Intolerance. Some patients may experience chronically low blood pressure caused by the nervous system (Neurally Mediated Hypotension). A common autonomic imbalance affecting patients with is POTS. This is an abbreviation for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.
The words postural and orthostasis in this refer primarily to the changes in blood flow in the body caused when we change positions such as going from lying to sitting or sitting to standing or just standing for a sustained period. Since the nerves of the involuntary nervous system run through connective tissue, they can be thrown out of balance by flaws or deficits in the connective tissue. So, in POTS, the longer the patient stands, the more blood settles toward the legs and feet, this takes blood away from the brain and from the nerves which sense blood pressure around the heart and in the neck. The drop in blood pressure leads to a fast heart rate (tachycardia) to try to catch up. And the patient becomes faint or dizzy or feels sick.
Other dysautonomia symptoms may include poor temperature regulation (feeling too hot or too cold), decreased or stalled gut movement in digestion (gastroparesis), and fatigue.
Hernias and Organ Prolapse
Besides the effect of the autonomic nervous system on digestion, connective tissue weakness in the gut can lead to hernias and organ prolapse plus functional problems like irritable bowel syndrome.
Mast Cell Imbalance
One other syndrome which is commonly associated with HSD or hEDS involves a tiny little cell which lives mostly in the connective tissues and which acts as a frontline sentinel of the body sensing wounds, foreign bodies and infections: the mast cell. Like the autonomic nervous system, mast cells can be thrown out of balance by connective tissue problems which can result in Mast Cell Activation Syndrome.
The mast cells produce a number of chemicals, call mediators, the first function of which is to cause inflammation. When the mast cells are out of balance, they become overly sensitive and may release their inflammatory mediators at random times or in response to triggering events, foods or stimuli. This can result in an array of problems which may appear to be weird and unrelated to each other. Here is a partial list of some of the problems which may result:
abdominal pain, bladder pain, brain fog, brittle fingernails, chemical sensitivity, chronic cough, chronic kidney disease, chronic sinus irritation or infections, constipation, cystitis, diarrhea, dry eyes/ blurred vision, endometriosis, fatigue, gallbladder inflammation, hair loss, headaches, hearing loss, high blood pressure, hyper or hypothyroid, incontinence, increased vulnerability to infection, insomnia, laryngitis, loss of appetite, lymph node enlargement, nausea, nose bleeds, numbness, painful urination, rashes, Raynaud’s disease, ringing in ears, sore throat, sores, sweats/ chills, temperature sensitivity, tingling, vaginal inflammation
In the next blog entry, we will look at how HSD and hEDS are treated.
Until then, Cheers! Zebbie
P.S. More information is available at the Ehlers-Danlos Society website. I particularly like this downloadable PDF overview: https://ehlers-danlos.com/wp-content/uploads/EDS_Awareness_2017_v3_img_2021.pdf
Thanks to Dr. Mark Melecki, PT for his assistance in writing this blog. (It is very challenging to type with hooves rather than fingers. Thanks Mark.)
