My daughter, who was diagnosed with hypermobility by a clinical geneticist when she was one-and-a-half, started to experience back problems when she was 16-years-old. Our general practitioner sent us to a nearby physiotherapist and she went there about five times. The physiotherapist wanted to strengthen the muscles in her trunk in order to support her back better. She set exercises, including great quantities of sit-ups and an exercise where my daughter had to lie on her side, resting on one elbow, and lift her trunk. The exercises caused her the greatest difficulty and her motivation disappeared very quickly. The back problems did not improve and even became worse at one time.
A few months later we went to Gertie Lenselink, a physiotherapist who is an expert in Bugnet. By now my daughter was suffering from intense pain in her lower back. Gertie saw that there had been a shift between parts of the pelvis which she put right manually. Then she gave my daughter other muscle-strengthening exercises: lighter, more localised and aimed at deeper-lying muscles. These exercises were also difficult, but not as difficult as the exercises she was previously required to do which were far too severe. My daughter could do these exercises and, because they were so localised, she was not able to compensate with other movements, which is what she did during previous stomach muscle strengthening exercises. She managed to stick to the programme and the problems disappeared completely. The exercises are done at home and visits to the physiotherapist are seldom required.
April 2014.