Premier’s Hypermobility Physiotherapy and Strength Assessment helps identify where control or capacity may be breaking down and builds a progressive plan for stronger, more confident movement.
Book a Physiotherapy Assessment Meet Lilly Winters
Brunswick · Individual physiotherapy · Strength and control · Clinical Pilates pathway · Running and sport progression
When flexibility stops feeling like an advantage
You may be able to move further than everyone else and still feel as though your body cannot be trusted.
A knee gives way. A shoulder never feels secure. The same ankle keeps rolling. Holding posture is exhausting. You start an exercise program, flare up, stop and then wonder whether getting stronger is even possible.
The answer is not automatically more stretching or a generic list of exercises. A useful starting point is to understand which joints and movements are causing difficulty, what your current strength and control look like, how your body responds to load and what you need to get back to.
That is what this assessment is designed to establish.
Who this assessment may suit
- You have been described as flexible, double-jointed or hypermobile
- One or more joints repeatedly feel unstable, give way or become irritated
- Exercise technique is difficult to feel or control
- You are unsure whether stretching is helping
- Previous strengthening programs progressed too quickly or felt generic
- You want to return to running, gym training, Pilates or sport
- You are rebuilding confidence following knee, shoulder or ankle problems
- You have an existing hypermobility-related diagnosis and want an individual rehabilitation plan
You do not need to arrive knowing the perfect label. The assessment begins with what you experience and what you want your body to handle.
What the assessment may look at
1. Your pattern
Your physiotherapist begins with the joints, symptoms and activities that are causing difficulty. This may include instability episodes, recurring injuries, fatigue, flare-ups, previous rehabilitation and the situations in which movement feels least reliable.
2. Strength, control and movement
The physical assessment is selected around your presentation. It may consider strength, movement control, balance, joint-position awareness, functional tasks and the demands of walking, work, running, gym training or sport.
3. Your current capacity
The point is not to discover the hardest exercise you can complete once. It is to identify a useful starting level and understand how your body responds, so the plan can be progressed rather than repeatedly restarted.
4. The next-step plan
You leave with an explanation of what appears relevant, which priorities come first and how rehabilitation may progress. If the presentation needs assessment outside physiotherapy, that can form part of the next-step discussion.
The goal: more usable strength, not less movement
Hypermobility itself is not automatically a problem. It becomes relevant when movement is associated with pain, recurring injury, poor control, fatigue or the sense that a joint cannot be trusted.
The rehabilitation goal is not to make you rigid. It is to build the strength, control and tolerance needed to use your available movement with greater confidence.
Your plan may include:
- Targeted strength work around joints that need more support
- Movement-control and joint-position exercises
- Balance and functional training
- Clinical Pilates selected for your starting point
- Gradual progression back to running, lifting or sport
- Manual therapy where it supports the active plan
- Practical education about exercise range, load and progression
Why Clinical Pilates may fit the pathway
Clinical Pilates allows exercises to be selected, adapted and progressed around an individual assessment rather than placing every person into the same sequence.
For some people, it can provide a useful bridge between individual physiotherapy and more independent strength work. The exercises can be adjusted around current control, symptoms and goals, then progressed as capacity improves.
Clinical Pilates is one option within the pathway, not a compulsory answer for every patient.
Meet Lilly Winters
Physiotherapy, Pilates and progressive strength in one pathway
Lilly Winters is a physiotherapist at Premier Sports Medicine Brunswick. She holds a Bachelor of Physiotherapy with Distinction from the University of Otago and APPI Clinical Matwork Pilates training. Her listed education also includes EDS ECHO coursework and musculoskeletal and manual-therapy courses covering the spine, shoulder, upper limb, hip and knee.
Lilly’s clinical interests include hypermobility, ACL and knee rehabilitation, running injuries, shoulder instability and falls prevention. Her approach can combine assessment, progressive exercise, Clinical Pilates and practical return-to-activity planning.
Meet Lilly · Book a Physiotherapy Assessment
Possible pathways after assessment
Individual physiotherapy
Useful when symptoms, instability or exercise tolerance need closer assessment and one-to-one progression.
Clinical Pilates
A possible next step for guided control, strength and movement progression once your starting point is understood.
Running or return-to-sport rehabilitation
For people whose goal is to tolerate the speed, impact, direction changes or repetition involved in their activity—not simply to feel better at rest.
ACL and knee rehabilitation
For rebuilding knee strength, control and confidence across the stages leading back to everyday activity, running or sport.
Hypermobility FAQs
What is joint hypermobility?
Joint hypermobility means one or more joints move through a greater range than is typical. For some people it causes no difficulty. For others, it may be associated with pain, recurring sprains, instability, fatigue or difficulty controlling movement. Physiotherapy focuses on how the movement affects the individual rather than flexibility alone.
Do I need an EDS or HSD diagnosis to book?
No. You can book because flexible or unstable-feeling joints, recurring injuries or exercise flare-ups are affecting what you want to do. Physiotherapy does not replace other professional assessment where that is needed.
Will this assessment diagnose Ehlers-Danlos syndrome?
This is a physiotherapy and rehabilitation assessment, not an EDS diagnostic service. The physiotherapist can assess movement and rehabilitation needs and discuss whether other professional input should form part of the next step.
Can strengthening be used when I am hypermobile?
Strengthening is commonly included in hypermobility rehabilitation, but exercise selection, starting level, technique and progression matter. The assessment is designed to build an individual plan rather than prescribe the same program to everyone.
Should hypermobile people stop stretching?
Not automatically. The useful question is whether a particular stretch serves a purpose and how your body responds. Physiotherapy can help identify where mobility is useful, where control deserves more attention and which exercises fit your goals.
Is Clinical Pilates the whole program?
Clinical Pilates can be one part of rehabilitation. Some people may begin with individual physiotherapy, move into Pilates-based rehabilitation and later progress to more independent strength or sport-specific work.
Can the pathway support a return to running or gym training?
The plan can be built around the strength, control and load required for the activity you want to return to, with progression based on your starting point and response.
Where is the assessment available?
The pathway is available through Premier Sports Medicine Brunswick. Use the live booking system or contact the clinic for current appointments.
Stop guessing whether you need more mobility or more control
Get a clearer picture of what your body needs now and a progressive plan for building strength and movement confidence.