Being an illustrator with Hyper-Extensive Mobility.

So one of the many perks of being me is that I get to deal with life while having hyper-extensive mobility syndrome, a condition where my joints very easily move beyond the normal range expected, sometimes this is referred to as loose joints or more commonly nicknamed 'double jointed' but it basically means i experience a lot of pain and dislocate my joints extremely frequently.

While this being bendy can be great for always having a party trick ready to go, it does have some downsides.

For me one of the areas heavily affected by my hyper mobility is my hands which, for obvious reasons, can be a little problematic considering what I do. As my ligaments and joints are too loose and stretchy it means my hands have to work harder to function as normal hands should because they cannot really support their own weight, so the longer i draw the more my hands begin to collapse under themselves, sounds fun right? Not really. Basically if I move my hands slightly wrong or accidentally put too much pressure on a joint it will dislocate out of place, sometimes so badly it chips the bone, add this to the fact that i have intermittent tremors in my hands from damage to my nervous system when i was a teenager, all makes for a less than ideal experience for creating artwork.

For years I just put up with the pain thinking this was normal and what happened to everyone else when they would write, draw or spend too long typing away on a keyboard but after years of pain and a variety of injuries i eventually cracked and decided to speak to a medical professional who confirmed the issue was my hyper mobility. When I asked how i could best manage this I was given the answer, multiple times may I add, that the solution was to 'pick another career' as I am not suited to doing anything labour intensive with my hands not that drawing is exactly strenuous to the majority of the population but to my body it is.

Now there is something you should know about me. I am stubborn!

Once I am told, no you can't do that, that immediately means that is exactly what I want to do just to prove them wrong. So I went to multiple doctors and occupational therapists (OT) who gave me what was essentially a cast to wear that went from my knuckles down past my wrist which, let me tell you, was completely useless as it prevented me from even being able to hold a pencil let alone have any control over one...

I had been trying to get someone to listen when I was saying that I think ring splints would help me but where I currently live in Western Australia they are VERY uncommon, so uncommon that there is no supplier or maker of them here and no doctors I spoke with would even consider writing me a script to order them as they knew nothing about them and didn't appear willing to learn. After years of pestering and trying new Doctors and OT's I eventually got a referral to my amazing hand specialist who agreed what I was given before was not up to par and we could do better and would look in to the option of ordering me some ring splints.

It was a lengthy process because we had to measure my hands for the splints and then send the order away to a company in America, The Silver Ring Co, who then made my splints exactly to my specifications and posted them back to Perth. Seriously it's the 21st century why is the postal service still so slow?! After a few weeks I was able to collect my splints and once we made a few minor adjustments to get them fitted perfectly I was able to take my precious little babies home.

When I say these little pieces of silver are my absolute life savers I am not exaggerating, they have allowed me to be able to work for longer periods of time than I have been able to in the past without ending up in agony. I absolutely cannot sing their praises enough, anyone who has problems similar to what I experience should look in to these and it's a bonus that they just look like I am wearing jewellery so I am not constantly having to explain to people why I am wearing splints.

I have one splint for my thumb which has a chain to anchor it to my wrist to keep it in place, one for my pointer finger as that joint hyper extends constantly which causes pain and one more splint for my pinky finger to act as a brace to prevent that joint from dislocating.

I am yet to find a solution to the tremors other than having to work a bit slower at times and I still have to be careful and aware of how I am moving my hands to prevent any major injuries but these splints have allowed my life to be that little bit easier and, quite frankly, I think art is hard enough on it's own that it is nice to have some of this added challenge taken away.