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Generalized joint laxity

MedGen UID:
322888
Concept ID:
C1836308
Finding
Synonyms: Hypermobility of all joints; Joint laxity, generalized
 
HPO: HP:0002761

Definition

Joint hypermobility (ability of a joint to move beyond its normal range of motion) affecting many or all joints of the body. [from HPO]

Term Hierarchy

Conditions with this feature

Achondroplasia
MedGen UID:
1289
Concept ID:
C0001080
Congenital Abnormality
Achondroplasia is the most common cause of disproportionate short stature. Affected individuals have rhizomelic shortening of the limbs, macrocephaly, and characteristic facial features with frontal bossing and midface retrusion. In infancy, hypotonia is typical, and acquisition of developmental motor milestones is often both aberrant in pattern and delayed. Intelligence and life span are usually near normal, although craniocervical junction compression increases the risk of death in infancy. Additional complications include obstructive sleep apnea, middle ear dysfunction, kyphosis, and spinal stenosis.
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, classic type, 2
MedGen UID:
120628
Concept ID:
C0268336
Disease or Syndrome
Classic Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (cEDS) is a connective tissue disorder characterized by skin hyperextensibility, atrophic scarring, and generalized joint hypermobility (GJH). The skin is soft and doughy to the touch, and hyperextensible, extending easily and snapping back after release (unlike lax, redundant skin, as in cutis laxa). The skin is fragile, as manifested by splitting of the dermis following relatively minor trauma, especially over pressure points (knees, elbows) and areas prone to trauma (shins, forehead, chin). Wound healing is poor, and stretching of scars after apparently successful primary wound healing is characteristic. Complications of joint hypermobility, such as dislocations of the shoulder, patella, digits, hip, radius, and clavicle, usually resolve spontaneously or are easily managed by the affected individual. Other features include hypotonia with delayed motor development, fatigue and muscle cramps, and easy bruising. Mitral valve prolapse can occur infrequently, but tends to be of little clinical consequence. Aortic root dilatation has been reported, appears to be more common in young individuals, and rarely progresses.
Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, with miniepiphyses
MedGen UID:
332176
Concept ID:
C1836307
Disease or Syndrome
A rare primary bone dysplasia disorder characterized by strikingly small secondary ossification centers (mini-epiphyses) in all or only some joints, resulting in severe bone dysplasia of the proximal femoral heads. Short stature, increased lumbar lordosis, genua vara and generalized joint laxity have also been reported.
CODAS syndrome
MedGen UID:
333031
Concept ID:
C1838180
Disease or Syndrome
CODAS is an acronym for cerebral, ocular, dental, auricular, and skeletal anomalies. CODAS syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by a distinctive constellation of features that includes developmental delay, craniofacial anomalies, cataracts, ptosis, median nasal groove, delayed tooth eruption, hearing loss, short stature, delayed epiphyseal ossification, metaphyseal hip dysplasia, and vertebral coronal clefts (summary by Strauss et al., 2015).
Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia type 1
MedGen UID:
325376
Concept ID:
C1838280
Disease or Syndrome
Autosomal dominant multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED) presents in early childhood, usually with pain in the hips and/or knees after exercise. Affected children complain of fatigue with long-distance walking. Waddling gait may be present. Adult height is either in the lower range of normal or mildly shortened. The limbs are relatively short in comparison to the trunk. Pain and joint deformity progress, resulting in early-onset osteoarthritis, particularly of the large weight-bearing joints.
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, musculocontractural type
MedGen UID:
356497
Concept ID:
C1866294
Disease or Syndrome
Other types of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome have additional signs and symptoms. The cardiac-valvular type causes severe problems with the valves that control the movement of blood through the heart. People with the kyphoscoliotic type experience severe curvature of the spine that worsens over time and can interfere with breathing by restricting lung expansion. A type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome called brittle cornea syndrome is characterized by thinness of the clear covering of the eye (the cornea) and other eye abnormalities. The spondylodysplastic type features short stature and skeletal abnormalities such as abnormally curved (bowed) limbs. Abnormalities of muscles, including hypotonia and permanently bent joints (contractures), are among the characteristic signs of the musculocontractural and myopathic forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. The periodontal type causes abnormalities of the teeth and gums.\n\nBleeding problems are common in the vascular type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and are caused by unpredictable tearing (rupture) of blood vessels and organs. These complications can lead to easy bruising, internal bleeding, a hole in the wall of the intestine (intestinal perforation), or stroke. During pregnancy, women with vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome may experience rupture of the uterus. Additional forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome that involve rupture of the blood vessels include the kyphoscoliotic, classical, and classical-like types.\n\nAn unusually large range of joint movement (hypermobility) occurs in most forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and it is a hallmark feature of the hypermobile type. Infants and children with hypermobility often have weak muscle tone (hypotonia), which can delay the development of motor skills such as sitting, standing, and walking. The loose joints are unstable and prone to dislocation and chronic pain. In the arthrochalasia type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, infants have hypermobility and dislocations of both hips at birth.\n\nThe various forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome have been classified in several different ways. Originally, 11 forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome were named using Roman numerals to indicate the types (type I, type II, and so on). In 1997, researchers proposed a simpler classification (the Villefranche nomenclature) that reduced the number of types to six and gave them descriptive names based on their major features. In 2017, the classification was updated to include rare forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome that were identified more recently. The 2017 classification describes 13 types of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.\n\nMany people with the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes have soft, velvety skin that is highly stretchy (elastic) and fragile. Affected individuals tend to bruise easily, and some types of the condition also cause abnormal scarring. People with the classical form of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome experience wounds that split open with little bleeding and leave scars that widen over time to create characteristic "cigarette paper" scars. The dermatosparaxis type of the disorder is characterized by loose skin that sags and wrinkles, and extra (redundant) folds of skin may be present.\n\nEhlers-Danlos syndrome is a group of disorders that affect connective tissues supporting the skin, bones, blood vessels, and many other organs and tissues. Defects in connective tissues cause the signs and symptoms of these conditions, which range from mildly loose joints to life-threatening complications.
Familial hypertryptophanemia
MedGen UID:
419177
Concept ID:
C2931837
Disease or Syndrome
Congenital hypertryptophanemia, which is accompanied by hyperserotonemia, does not appear to have significant clinical consequences (Ferreira et al., 2017).
Osteogenesis imperfecta type 10
MedGen UID:
462561
Concept ID:
C3151211
Disease or Syndrome
Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) comprises a group of connective tissue disorders characterized by bone fragility and low bone mass. The disorder is clinically and genetically heterogeneous. OI type X is an autosomal recessive form characterized by multiple bone deformities and fractures, generalized osteopenia, dentinogenesis imperfecta, and blue sclera (Christiansen et al., 2010).
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, periodontal type 1
MedGen UID:
1642148
Concept ID:
C4551499
Disease or Syndrome
Periodontal Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (pEDS) is characterized by distinct oral manifestations. Periodontal tissue breakdown beginning in the teens results in premature loss of teeth. Lack of attached gingiva and thin and fragile gums lead to gingival recession. Connective tissue abnormalities of pEDS typically include easy bruising, pretibial plaques, distal joint hypermobility, hoarse voice, and less commonly manifestations such as organ or vessel rupture. Since the first descriptions of pEDS in the 1970s, 148 individuals have been reported in the literature; however, future in-depth descriptions of non-oral manifestations in newly diagnosed individuals with a molecularly confirmed diagnosis of pEDS will be important to further define the clinical features.
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, classic-like, 2
MedGen UID:
1632001
Concept ID:
C4693870
Disease or Syndrome
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome classic-like-2 (EDSCLL2) is characterized by severe joint and skin laxity, osteoporosis involving the hips and spine, osteoarthritis, soft redundant skin that can be acrogeria-like, delayed wound healing with abnormal atrophic scarring, and shoulder, hip, knee, and ankle dislocations. Variable features include gastrointestinal and genitourinary manifestations, such as bowel rupture, gut dysmotility, cryptorchidism, and hernias; vascular complications, such as mitral valve prolapse and aortic root dilation; and skeletal anomalies (Blackburn et al., 2018). See 606408 for another classic-like EDS syndrome. For a discussion of the classification of EDS, see 130000.
VISS syndrome
MedGen UID:
1794165
Concept ID:
C5561955
Disease or Syndrome
VISS syndrome is a generalized connective tissue disorder characterized by early-onset thoracic aortic aneurysm and other connective tissue findings, such as aneurysm and tortuosity of other arteries, joint hypermobility, skin laxity, and hernias, as well as craniofacial dysmorphic features, structural cardiac defects, skeletal anomalies, and motor developmental delay (Van Gucht et al., 2021). Immune dysregulation has been observed in some patients (Ziegler et al., 2021).

Professional guidelines

PubMed

Sacks HA, Prabhakar P, Wessel LE, Hettler J, Strickland SM, Potter HG, Fufa DT
J Bone Joint Surg Am 2019 Mar 20;101(6):558-566. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.18.00458. PMID: 30893238

Recent clinical studies

Etiology

Sundemo D, Jacobsson MS, Karlsson J, Samuelsson K, Beischer S, Thomeé R, Thomeé C, Senorski EH
Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 2022 Dec;30(12):4173-4180. Epub 2022 Jun 8 doi: 10.1007/s00167-022-07008-0. PMID: 35676596Free PMC Article
Krebs NM, Barber-Westin S, Noyes FR
Arthroscopy 2021 Jul;37(7):2337-2347. Epub 2021 Feb 20 doi: 10.1016/j.arthro.2021.02.021. PMID: 33621648
Sundemo D, Blom A, Hoshino Y, Kuroda R, Lopomo NF, Zaffagnini S, Musahl V, Irrgang JJ, Karlsson J, Samuelsson K; PIVOT Study Group
Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 2018 Aug;26(8):2362-2370. Epub 2017 Nov 17 doi: 10.1007/s00167-017-4785-2. PMID: 29150746Free PMC Article
Price MJ, Tuca M, Cordasco FA, Green DW
Curr Opin Pediatr 2017 Feb;29(1):55-64. doi: 10.1097/MOP.0000000000000444. PMID: 27861256
Kim SJ, Kumar P, Kim SH
Clin Orthop Surg 2010 Sep;2(3):130-9. Epub 2010 Aug 3 doi: 10.4055/cios.2010.2.3.130. PMID: 20808583Free PMC Article

Diagnosis

Long G, Yaoyao Z, Na Y, Ping Y, Mingsheng T
J Orthop Sci 2022 Mar;27(2):342-347. Epub 2021 Mar 9 doi: 10.1016/j.jos.2021.01.010. PMID: 33712330
Wolf JM, Williams AE, Delaronde S, Leger R, Clifton KB, King KB
J Hand Surg Am 2013 Apr;38(4):721-8. Epub 2013 Mar 6 doi: 10.1016/j.jhsa.2013.01.019. PMID: 23474155
Wolf JM, Schreier S, Tomsick S, Williams A, Petersen B
J Hand Surg Am 2011 Jul;36(7):1165-9. Epub 2011 May 7 doi: 10.1016/j.jhsa.2011.03.017. PMID: 21550184
Yamazaki J, Muneta T, Ju YJ, Morito T, Okuwaki T, Sekiya I
Am J Sports Med 2011 Feb;39(2):410-4. Epub 2010 Nov 3 doi: 10.1177/0363546510381588. PMID: 21051427
Beltran J, Jbara M, Maimon R
Top Magn Reson Imaging 2003 Feb;14(1):35-49. doi: 10.1097/00002142-200302000-00004. PMID: 12606868

Therapy

Wang AH, Su T, Jiang YF, Zhu YC, Jiao C, Hu YL, Guo QW, Jiang D
Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 2023 Sep;31(9):4043-4051. Epub 2023 May 10 doi: 10.1007/s00167-023-07431-x. PMID: 37162539
Beynnon BD, Tourville TW, Hollenbach HC, Shultz S, Vacek P
Sports Health 2023 May;15(3):433-442. Epub 2022 Sep 25 doi: 10.1177/19417381221121136. PMID: 36154754Free PMC Article
Lee SM, Lee GW
Spine J 2015 May 1;15(5):809-16. Epub 2014 Dec 15 doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2014.12.013. PMID: 25523376
Haslam PG, Goddard M, Flowers MJ, Fernandes JA
J Pediatr Orthop B 2006 Jul;15(4):273-7. doi: 10.1097/01202412-200607000-00008. PMID: 16751737
Winocur E, Gavish A, Halachmi M, Bloom A, Gazit E
J Oral Rehabil 2000 Jul;27(7):614-22. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2842.2000.00546.x. PMID: 10931255

Prognosis

Long G, Yaoyao Z, Na Y, Ping Y, Mingsheng T
J Orthop Sci 2022 Mar;27(2):342-347. Epub 2021 Mar 9 doi: 10.1016/j.jos.2021.01.010. PMID: 33712330
Kim SJ, Choi CH, Kim SH, Lee SK, Lee W, Kim T, Jung M
Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 2018 Sep;26(9):2568-2579. Epub 2018 Mar 3 doi: 10.1007/s00167-018-4881-y. PMID: 29502168
Lee GW, Lee SM, Suh BG
Spine J 2015 Jan 1;15(1):65-70. Epub 2014 Jul 8 doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2014.06.028. PMID: 25011096
Wolf JM, Williams AE, Delaronde S, Leger R, Clifton KB, King KB
J Hand Surg Am 2013 Apr;38(4):721-8. Epub 2013 Mar 6 doi: 10.1016/j.jhsa.2013.01.019. PMID: 23474155
Nomura E, Inoue M, Kobayashi S
Arthroscopy 2006 Aug;22(8):861-5. doi: 10.1016/j.arthro.2006.04.090. PMID: 16904584

Clinical prediction guides

Kim MS, Kim JJ, Kang KH, Sin KJ, In Y
J Arthroplasty 2023 Apr;38(4):662-667. Epub 2022 Oct 27 doi: 10.1016/j.arth.2022.10.033. PMID: 36309143
Sundemo D, Jacobsson MS, Karlsson J, Samuelsson K, Beischer S, Thomeé R, Thomeé C, Senorski EH
Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 2022 Dec;30(12):4173-4180. Epub 2022 Jun 8 doi: 10.1007/s00167-022-07008-0. PMID: 35676596Free PMC Article
Sundemo D, Blom A, Hoshino Y, Kuroda R, Lopomo NF, Zaffagnini S, Musahl V, Irrgang JJ, Karlsson J, Samuelsson K; PIVOT Study Group
Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 2018 Aug;26(8):2362-2370. Epub 2017 Nov 17 doi: 10.1007/s00167-017-4785-2. PMID: 29150746Free PMC Article
Kwon SK, Kwon HM, Kong Y, Park KK
Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 2017 Nov;25(11):3360-3365. Epub 2017 Mar 6 doi: 10.1007/s00167-017-4486-x. PMID: 28265692Free PMC Article
Wolf JM, Williams AE, Delaronde S, Leger R, Clifton KB, King KB
J Hand Surg Am 2013 Apr;38(4):721-8. Epub 2013 Mar 6 doi: 10.1016/j.jhsa.2013.01.019. PMID: 23474155

Recent systematic reviews

Krebs NM, Barber-Westin S, Noyes FR
Arthroscopy 2021 Jul;37(7):2337-2347. Epub 2021 Feb 20 doi: 10.1016/j.arthro.2021.02.021. PMID: 33621648

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