This introductory video is for all those with hypermobility (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) or people who feel like they have a lot of passive range of motion (flexibility) but not good active range of motion (mobility).

For students who don’t have hypermobility - you can just skip this video.

Let’s talk about the differences between passive range and active range…

Passive range is the space in which a part of your body can move with help from an external force - such as gravity, someone stretching you, pulling yourself into a range of motion with your hands or a stretching strap, etc.

Active range is the space in which you can move a part of your body with strength and control, without help of an external force.

Everyone will always have more passive range than active range, but for most people there’s about a 15 degree difference between the two. For people with hypermobility, that discrepancy is often significantly larger, which means they don’t need to develop anymore passive range of motion. For those who are not diagnosed hypermobility, but have a discrepancy of roughly more than 25 degrees or so, they don’t need to develop anymore passive range of motion either.

So if you have hypermobility or significantly more passive range of motion than active range, you’re going to want to make some modifications during our PAILs/RAILs concept. Instead of going to end-range of passive (where you’ll feel a stretch), we’ll find the end of your active range of motion and then push only another 10 degrees or so into your passive range. In this range, you likely won’t feel a stretch at all, but that’s okay. This is the range of motion you’re going to remain in. From here, we can utilize the isometrics (the PAILs/RAILS contractions) to strengthen this specific range, which is very important for those with hypermobility. You can also shorten the 2min passive stretch here to 30 seconds if you want to, since you’re not at end-range of passive and the goal isn’t to develop more passive range of motion anyways. With these modifications, over time, you will be able to minimize the gap between your passive and active ranges by improving your active range of motion. The PAILs/RAILs contractions will help strengthen the tissues and teach your nervous system how to control and produce force in these ranges.

No other concept in Kinstretch will need modifications besides PAILs/RAILs. Concepts like CARs, lift offs, hovers, etc. - will all be great for people with hypermobility, because we’re actively teaching the nervous system how to control ranges.

Lastly, a reminder - when you’re training in areas of weakness or past injury/pain/dysfunction - it’s really important to keep your intensity levels low at first. The quality of tissue in these areas could be weak, so the amount of stress/force/load these tissues can absorb will be low at first. So keep those intensity levels low initially if you have to, especially during PAILs/RAILs, and then gradually build up over time. The goal is to adhere to progressive overload and slowly build up. Always listen to your body and go at your own pace, and never work in any painful ranges of motion. Discomfort can be normal, but we never want that feeling to move towards a sharp pain, pinch, or twinge.

I hope this video was helpful!