LAUSR

Vastly under-recognized and tragically mistreated are the 20% of women and 10% of men whose tissues are more flexible and fragile than average [1]. Few opportunities for prevention and treatment exceed that of recognizing hypermobility, easily screened by asking the patient to push their thumb against their forearm (Figure 1). This tell-tale sign can point the way to a more detailed evaluation that is well within the realm of the general practitioner, their broad clinical knowledge nicely matching the multisystem problems that may arise from lax connective tissue. Here I review the nature of hypermobility disorders, demonstrate that general rather than subspecialty knowledge can lead to life-changing therapies for these patients, and show how genetic testing brings symptomatic descriptions like fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome into the discerning light of precision medicine.