@hypermobilitymd: What if brain inflammation is one of the missing links connecting hypermobile EDS, HSD, POTS, MCAS, ME/CFS, Long COVID, and even neurodivergence? And if these conditions do share underlying biology, are the tools we currently use actually capturing the people most affected by it? On this episode of Bendy Bodies, I spoke with Ina Stephens, MD, of UVA Health, Christy Jagdfeld, CPA, and Megan Fitzgerald, PhD, of the Brain Inflammation Collaborative about the patterns emerging across these complex, overlapping conditions. One of the tools we discussed was the Beighton score. The Beighton score measures joint hypermobility, but it does not measure any symptoms or necessarily correlate with function, fatigue, or how a person is actually feeling. It can also decrease over time as flexibility changes. That becomes especially interesting when we zoom out and consider what researchers are seeing across EDS, neuroinflammation, mast cell activation, autonomic dysfunction, connective tissue differences, and neurodivergence. If the impact of these conditions involves much more than joint flexibility, how much can a flexibility score really tell us about the person sitting in front of us? The Brain Inflammation Collaborative’s dataset of more than 4,000 adults gives researchers an opportunity to compare Beighton scores with validated measures of function and fatigue and track those relationships over time. We don’t have all of these answers yet. But this is exactly why looking at the bigger picture matters. Has your Beighton score ever felt disconnected from your actual symptoms or level of functioning? #Neuroinflammation #HypermobileEDS #POTS #MCAS #BendyBodiesPodcast This post is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Please talk with your healthcare team about your individual symptoms, diagnoses, and treatment. VD: Podcast reel featuring Dr. Linda Bluestein in conversation with Ina Stephens, MD, Christy Jagdfeld, CPA, and Megan Fitzgerald, PhD, discussing the limitations of the Beighton score within a broader conversation about brain inflammation, hypermobile EDS, overlapping conditions, function, fatigue, and shared biology.

Dr. Linda Bluestein

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Saturday 29 August 2026 19:29:35 GMT