Autistic, ADHD, TS people 2 x more likely to be hypermobile, and experience more pain

NEW RESEARCH - Led by Dr Eccles, SEDS Patron and Brighton & Sussex Medical School (BSMS) and funded by the MRC, MQ Mental Health Research and Versus Arthritis, quoting Chair, Jane Green (SEDS)

Neurodivergent people are more than twice as likely as the general population to have hypermobility and are far more likely to experience pain on a regular basis, according to new research.

Chair of Sussex Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (SEDS), Jane Green, said:

“It took 54 years to receive my autistic and hypermobility EDS diagnoses, so it is really validating to realise that all my varied issues are real and linked up. That I wasn’t making up all my pain, both visible and invisible, I wasn’t being a hypochondriac and nor am I dim. It wasn’t my fault for not being strong and healthy or picking up ‘common-sense’ things that others expected me to do and the further trauma this caused.

“I hope that this study and future developments will now help so many more people I support, both my age and, hopefully the younger generation, who will not only be believed but supportively managed and be given the opportunity to have a much more healthy and fulfilled life.”

Read the press article released by BSMS here:

https://www.bsms.ac.uk/about/news/2022/02-02-neurodivergent-people-more-likely-to-experience-pain-due-to-hypermobility.aspx

Read the full research piece here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.786916/full