Prevalence of Hypermobility in College Going Student

Abstract

Background: Joint hypermobility is defined as the wide range of movements beyond limit. Prevalence of hypermobility is seen more in children but less of data is available regarding the prevalence rate in college students. Since lot of musculoskeletal issues exist in young population, there is a need to find out the prevalence of hypermobility among college going students. Methodology: In this cross sectional study, 100 college going students were taken as sample including 50 males and 50 females and we looked for hypermobility in them with clinical examination according to Beighton’s score. The population included between 18 and 25 year old young college students. Result: There is prevalence of 42% generalized joint hypermobility, 52% localized hypermobility and 6% of the population who was not hypermobile. Prevalence of generalized joint hyper-mobility was found in 42% males and 42% females. The selective joint hyper-mobility was seen in 48% of the males and 56% of the females, whereas 8% males and 4% females were not hyper-mobile. It was found that the percentage of little finger extension joint involvement was highest, followed by elbow, knee joint and thumb (1st MCP). Conclusion: There was no specific trend followed from age 18–25 years with increase in age. Generalized hypermobility was equally distributed among males and females, whereas Selective hypermobility was common among females in 18–25 years college students.