Throughout every syllabus and tutorial I take hypermobility into account. Where appropriate I provide specific tips and advice for hypermobile students, BUT it is your responsibility to listen to your own body. If something hurts or causes problems - do not do it. Seek further advice. A lot of the content here is to help you learn the skills you'll need to keep yourself safe - no matter who is teaching you! Unfortunately very few instructors either in pole or the wider fitness community have any level of hypermobility knowledge or training and you will not be able to rely on that. You need to learn for yourself and then speak up for yourself where needed.
Everything you need to know about hypermobility
A no fuss, jargon free introduction to hypermobilty: what it is and how it relates to your pole practice.
Flexibility Training for Hypermobile Students
This is a two hour long workshop that is going to teach you pretty much everything you need to know as a hypermobile individual who wishes to improve your flexibility - because hypermobility does not equal flexibility. You need a yoga mat, some yoga blocks if you have them (please do buy some! they're amazing supports), a pillow and some kind of strap or band (a scarf or belt or something similar will do).
Many hypermobile students will have issues with their nerves. This is an introduction into a few nerve flossing techniques. This should not be used a substitute for physiotherapy or to treat specific injuries, but it can be helpful in your flexibility training and can help you assess if your nerves could be holding you back.
Pole Myth: "Hypermobile students shouldn't lock their elbows."
Due to the structure of the elbow you would need significant force, like a fall from a great height, in order to dislocate the elbow and the elbow can actually only bend so far back due to bone on bone. It is highly dependant on the position and the individual but MOST people can in fact lock their elbows out in most positions both on and off the pole so long as they suffer no pain. The current and most common advice in pole is to keep a micro-bend in tricks like butterfly, split grips, ayesha. This is incorrect and potentially dangerous.
Most people suffer pain with a locked elbow due to not being strong enough for the tricks they are trying to do but a micro-bend position is harder to hold and requires even more strength. What happens when we micro-bend is that we swap one problem for another, potentially, worse one and increase our likelihood of getting over use injuries like tendinitis. It also makes it almost impossible to fully push from the shoulders in tricks like split grips. Being able to push all the way from the shoulder/scapula is protective and an important part of a push position. On top of that a micro-bend makes it far more likely we could fall out of our Ayesha onto our head. If you have pain with split grips - see a physio and a personal trainer/pole instructor with good experience and don't do them until your body is adequately prepared. In some very extreme cases a split grip just may not be suitable.
If your shoulders are hypermobile you are far more likely to experience injuries if you don't use ideal form. This short class explains a little bit about how the shoulders work on the pole in different positions - jargon free and easy to follow!
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