Completely Unimportant

I am a bit double jointed (in my fingers). This means I can bend the first joints of my fingers while keeping the second ones locked straight (or, rather, a bit bent backwards). Here's a picture of someone doing it.


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Anyway, I just did this silly thing I can do with my fingers and I got this sharp, needle like stabbing pain in my middle finger (just below my fingernail near the first joint). It's awful! Even typing hurts.

On the other hand, no pun intended, it's preferable to a migraine......

Ha! Leslie, I can do that too. Freaked my kids out when they were little.

As tempted as I am to do it, I'm scared to now.

I can do it too. It used to be worse...I used to play flute and then my fingers slipped into it all the time. I can do it on command with 3 fingers now but used to be able to do all 8.

Oh and my toes...I can cross them and spread them way apart. I can actually pick up a pen...writing, well that would be a neat trick but since we aren't encouraged to play with our feet I've never tried.

Very cool! I pick things up with my toes all the time! I can lock my thumbs, also & hold them against my wrist, too, but not as loosely as when I was young.

I remember being a small child and my sister and I were playing "can you do this". I did the stuff with my fingers and she brought me to my parents and exclaimed "Leslie's double jointed!" Until then, I thought everyone could do it.

I was watching one of those medical shows on TV (Medical Mysteries or something like that). This one episode featured a woman who was able to do lots of things with a lot of her joints. She ended up in a lot of pain because her ligaments were all stretched out. I believe it was exacerbated by pregnancy as the doctor said something about a naturally occurring process during pregnancy was for ligaments/tendons to relax in order to accommodate a growing fetus.

I forget all that happened in that show but I am happy to have only my limited double jointedness!

I used to be able to do the thumb to the wrist, but I just tried and I can't.

I can do this other thing that I don't even know what to call it. If I put my left index and left middle finger up against the right index and right middle finger. I can make them do the splits to where the crease between the right fingers meets the crease between the left finger. Boy, I know what I'm talking about and can't understand that!

I don't understand

oh Leslie! First I am sorry you had hurt yourself doing that,
second I envy anyone who can do that, or being left handed for that matter, or being more flexible that average person or being able to do anything that average person can do!

I can only bent one middle finger like that in my right hand on the account that I had it slightly broken during basketball game in high school , lol

btw
has anyone seen one of America Funniest Home Videos shows where a boy could bent his fingers all the way out
but like a full out bent the tip of the any fingernail touching his hair part of arm?!
yikes, that was creepy and mesmerizing at the same time!!

this boy can ALMOST do it- the other boy in AFV could touch the arm - I saw it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuxMKFTdDdo&NR=1


Risa

look what Patsy can do - it's more like it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5feYnWlgDA&NR=1

eeek eekk eeeek!!

Risa

I'll try to take a pic of it tomorrow. It's impossible to explain.

Maybe one or more of you "stretchy" people have EDS. Look at the photos:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehlers-Danlos_syndrome

It is linked to Chiari, craniocervical instability, and CSF leaks.

Cheryl

I can blow air out of my eye. Can anyone else do that? Can everyone? is it something that everyone can do but just I thought was special or am I a freak of nature?

I can blow air out of my eye. Can anyone else do that?

My girlfriend's son can! he used to pinch his nose with his fingers and blow air out his eyes!! fah-reaky!!!

and on AFV, I saw this done in a fish tank, also by a boy.


Risa

Hmmm, fascinating Cheryl. I have several of the characteristics (narrow palate, bruising, stretchy skin, scar formation, Nerve compression, IBS and osteopenia), my Mom had even more. My youngest has quite a few too. With him we even carried a letter around with us from his physician stating that we weren't beating him.

But, since there's nothing that can be done about it, and it's a beautiful day, I'll just say "Fiddle-dee-dee".

Amazing though how intricate the body is.

I can blow air out of my eye

Ummm...I'm not sure I want to find out. I used to be able to stick my fist in my mouth, but the last time I did it, it got stuck. I'm just full of stupid pet tricks.

milo wrote:I can blow air out of my eye. Can anyone else do that? Can everyone? is it something that everyone can do but just I thought was special or am I a freak of nature?

AHH Man so can I!!!

I used to be able to make bubbles with my tears! Really, I thought I was the only one! I showed my pediatrician..well, my mom made me actually, and he said verbatum, "That is a very interesting trick. I don't know what to say about that."

I've always had ENT problems and I thought maybe it was related. Guess not. Cool! I love this forum!

Cheryl...thanks for the link. I've got quite a few of the symptoms too. Mine just weren't severe enough to ever have it diagnosed - just produced some neat tricks and required a lot of dental work. But it does explain a few things...I had a particularly nasty ankle sprain and ended up developing scar tissue in that joint (which was surgically removed) - that never made sense. I have always had sort of "loose" joints. A PT was once testing them out and told me that he could have dislocated a hip just by bending too much. Rather scary thought. It also explains the bruising - I tend to bruise like a peach and usually have no idea where they came from...

I know exactly where it comes from, my mother. My brother I know has it too - he's even more double jointed than I am and has a few of the symptoms that I don't.

Air through your eye? Oh my...sounds a bit freaky if you ask me but I suppose anything is possible.

Yup, a TON of dental work. I had to have my palate split, teeth pulled, braces, night braces. But, it paid off. I could open beer bottles with my teeth in college. Man, was I a class act! Wonder why I couldn't get any dates after the advent of the twist-off top? (Don't go there).

I am really "un-stretchy." I don't think I have a drop of EDS in me. My hubby seems to have some.

Cheryl

So, lovegia, did you have a lot of ear infections when you were younger?

You guys are just plain WIERD.

I can make the Vulcan greeting sign and say "Live long and prosper".

I can flex my chest muscles, flare my nostrils, shoot two bullets in the same hole "Robin Hood" style at 100 ft.

I can blow air out of my........let's forget that one.

Hal

I can blow air out of my........let's forget that one.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

My cousin's daughter has EDS pretty badly, she's been suffering a lot since she was very small

As for me, I'm also pretty inflexible. Double jointed displays can sometimes make me feel a bit faint as I imagine the pain it would take for my body to these things! I can cross a few of my toes over each other. When I was about 8 I asked my mum what this meant. Her reply? "It means you'll have lots of problems with them when you're older!" Thanks mum! I was totally freaked out by my impending disability

Amy

I took Anna to a geneticist here, and he said she was borderline for having EDS. But these days I don't have a whole lot of faith in doctors in my state anymore...they have been wrong too many times with Anna.

Cheryl

Thank you everyone! I think I am normal.....well, physically, anyway. There's no air coming from my eyes....that was a new one on me!

Leslie,

Everyone has a small tube in the inside corner of their eye that goes to the sinus cavity. If you hold your nose and keep your mouth shut and then blow as hard as you can, you can force some air out of this tube. It is easier for some depending on the size of the tube. I do not recomend doing it.

Hal

I think I'll pass ;-)

When I was a kid, we all used to turn our eyelids inside out....that was creepy!