@erica

wanna learn something cool? 35% of people with adhd are also hypermobile 12% of the non-adhd population is hypermobile (3x increase of prevalence, statistically significant difference) for hypermobile people, their joints don't send proprioceptive feedback to the brain when in neutral position. our brain gets minimal to no feedback about where our body is in space when we're in a fully neutral position. the brain does not like not knowing where the body is. so we constantly move around and contort into strange positions at end of motion range to give feedback/stimulation to our brain. hypermobile folks also constantly contract the joint-supporting muscles to provide extra stability, as the different collagen we have is too lax to hold joints in a stable, neutral position. you may be thinking - wow, that's a lot of conscious effort your brain has to put in to just keeping your body in a neutral, structurally safe position. and you're right, it totally is. adhd researchers have recently picked up on this too. there's an emerging field within adhd research that focuses on the prevalence of hypermobility in adhd vs non-adhd populations. they're starting to ask: are hypermobility and adhd two different things that are comorbid, or are they actually expressions of the same underlying issue? are all of the issues with inattention and hyperactivity in adhd attributable to your brain's decrease in executive functioning, or can part of it be explained by the extra attention your CNS has to put in to maintaining basic postural stability and knowing where your body is in space? this is so freaking cool to think about. people with adhd could potentially lessen their symptoms simply by improving their posture and teaching their body to maintain proper muscle tone for healthy joint positioning. brb, i will be focusing on proper posture for the next several months. may or may not report back.

11 replies

4 recasts

41 reactions