Medical update on Josie!

After several years there is FINALLY a diagnosis for Josie's knee pains!  She has Benign Hypermobility Syndrome. You can read about it here.  Essentially, all the tendons, muscles, ligaments, joint capsules are very loose compared to other people. It is can be helpful to be very flexible but can also cause a lot of pain in the joint areas, because of the lack of strength.  Normal activities can put too much stress on the loose joints and cause irritation.  Exercise is good for it but we have to figure out what is a good amount with it not being to much. She is in the most pain when she is not moving. Makes it difficult to find a good stopping time when she is not in pain. Could be why all her life she has loved to always keep moving. Warm heat and massaging have helped some, trying to stay away from pain medication. Worse time of course is in the middle of the night. Makes it almost impossible some days to sit still for school work. Lots of breaks to walk and move around. Jacuzzi time has helped too, she feels absolutely no pain in the warm water. She will begin physical therapy to make her hamstrings stronger to lessen the pain in her knees. She will get a home program therapy to follow also. This syndrome has also caused Osteochondritis Dissecans of her knee. You can read about it here.