Tangentially related to ST scheduling, and also an update from me, to be filed under Know and Respect Thy Limitations, I guess…
I’ve been battling weird chronic soft tissue pain in and around joints for years now, and have seen a bunch of different specialists who’ve provided no real answers. I’ve been told “stop doing yoga” by one doctor, “absolutely keep doing yoga” by another, prescribed PT that made the pain exponentially worse, and so on. The only constants were agreement among all that I have hypermobile joints and perimenopause is more than likely part of the picture. But no real diagnoses, and no remedies offered.
Well, it turns out “hypermobile” isn’t just an observation: it’s a DIAGNOSIS. Literally nobody told me that: I found it while looking through my clinical notes, mentioned it to a friend who has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and she hooked me up with a doctor who specializes in EDS and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder. I fit all criteria for HSD. And that diagnosis finally got me to the appropriate information for managing it.
HSD may or may not fall under the autoimmune umbrella - it needs more study, but is so often seen in people who have other autoimmune diseases, it seems very likely. It can be very affected by shifts in hormones - so yes, perimenopause can be a big player in how HSD impacts someone on any given day. And basically, the problem with HSD in athletes is that the more connective tissue (tendons, ligaments) are stretched, the more hypermobile they become, and then you have joints out of alignment, pulling on muscle tissue and/or creating friction - and that hurts. It turns out, joints (like knees, shoulders, hips, spine, wrists, ankles…) partially dislocating and snapping back into socket on the regular isn’t normal - I never knew that, so I’ve never thought to mention it. It’s been my normal since childhood.
The key seems to be keeping muscle tissue strong and supple, while avoiding overstretching connective tissue. Which is basically what I’d figured out without knowing the why of it on my own. Yoga is good and fine… so long as I’m not over-stretching connective tissue. Running is… well, not great TBH. But mixing it up with walk intervals and doing less of it is okay. ST is the toughest element to figure out, but the key seems to be muscle isolation - which is the opposite direction of a lot of modern ST exercises that are mean to work multiple muscle groups at once. All that does is place too much pressure on my hypermobile joints, which buckle and BAM - a few reps of weights and I can’t use a shoulder for a couple weeks.
Anyway, sorry for the wall of text, but you’ve all been so kind as I’ve struggled over the past couple years, and I wanted to share. The answers I have aren’t ideal, but they could be worse, and at least I know now that it’s not my imagination, and my inability to follow best practices for the average person without extreme pain isn’t some moral failing, but a legitimate medical issue. I’ve changed things up a bit and have some hard limits in place to reduce overextending connective tissue - think side-lying leg lifts, for instance: I have an upper and lower limit of range that I’m flexible enough to go past, but no longer do - that keeps my hip from sublaxing AND forces muscle tissue to handle the entire load itself. Body weight only for now. And paying close attention when walking and running to avoid hips, knees, and ankles from sublaxing. It’s been a few weeks of that and I’m happy to report less overall chronic pain!
and you have no idea how much I appreciate this. You have given me a lot to read and think about, which I will do. I will keep at it and enjoy the journey. 
