Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

Ehlers- Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a rare connective tissue disorder. There are six different types of EDS, all with varying degrees of signs and symptoms. The key signs that patients with EDS display are overly hypermobile joints, skin elasticity, and abnormal vasculature, which is seen in some types of the condition. The life of a patient with EDS can be very frustrating because many doctors and physical therapists do not have a good knowledge base to help treat and control the condition. Pain management is very important for EDS patients because most are in pain on a daily basis. This disorder affects daily life, especially in athletes. Athletes who are diagnosed must be extremely cautious when competing in sporting events, while some are …show more content…
To date, six different types of EDS have been identified: classical type, hypermobile type, vascular type, kyphoscoliosis, arthrochalasia, and dermatosparaxis (Shirley, DeMaio, & Bodurtha, 2012). This common signs seen in Ehlers- Danlos patients are skin elasticity, hypermobile joints, and abnormal vasculature, along with frequent subluxations/ dislocations, bruising, chronic pain in joints and musculature, fragile skin, fatigue and ligament laxity (Shirley et al., 2012; Levy, 2004). It is estimated that roughly 1 in 5,000 people have some form of Ehlers- Danlos Syndrome, but the condition is very under- diagnosed mainly due to lack of education (Bovet, Carlson, & Taylor, 2016; Rombaut et al., 2015). The classical type and the hypermobile type are the most common types identified in patients that are diagnosed with EDS; the two types combined make up around 90% of all Ehlers- Danlos cases (Shirley et al., 2012). Because of the different types of EDS, there are varying degrees of the key signs. Ehlers- Danlos patients all have similar issues, but each person deals with their own unique problems on a daily