Pain and quality of life perception in children with hypermobility syndrome

Hypermobility syndrome (HMS) is a major source of morbidity in children. Due to pain, activities of daily living, physical and sports activities may be limited in children with HMS (Murray and Woo 2001). However, this has not been well documented. Ruperto et al (2004) reported that functional ability and physical and psychosocial well-being of children with generalised joint laxity were not affected when compared with healthy controls. Their study was conducted on children with generalised joint laxity, however, and not those with HMS. Therefore, it is currently unclear whether quality of life (QoL) in children with HMS is affected. This study compared pain and QoL in children diagnosed with HMS with healthy controls.