π€Έ Beighton Score Calculator
The 9-point hypermobility check.
Beighton score
For informational purposes only, not medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional.
Can you bend your pinky back past 90 degrees, touch your thumb to your forearm, or place your palms flat on the floor with straight knees? The Beighton score turns these party tricks into a 9-point clinical measure of joint hypermobility: five movements, scored on both sides, plus the palms-to-floor test.
A score of 5 or more out of 9 indicates generalized joint hypermobility in adults up to 50 (6+ for children, 4+ over 50). This calculator scores the nine maneuvers and applies the age-adjusted cutoffs from the 2017 hypermobility criteria.
How to use this calculator
Try each movement gently, without forcing. Score what you can do with ease, not what you can achieve with pain.
Check each pinky, thumb, elbow, and knee maneuver you can do on each side.
Check the palms-flat-on-floor test (knees straight, feet together).
Select your age group and read your score against the cutoff.
The nine points
Four maneuvers are bilateral (1 point per side) and one is single:
Cutoffs drop with age because everyone stiffens over time: a 60-year-old who scores 4 may have been a 7 at 25. The 2017 criteria formalized these age bands.
Worked example
Both pinkies bend back (2), both thumbs touch forearms (2), neither elbow hyperextends (0), both knees hyperextend (2), palms flat (1). Total: 7. For an adult under 50, that meets the 5+ threshold: generalized joint hypermobility.
Only the palms test and one pinky: 2 points. Below every cutoff: not hypermobile by this measure, whatever the yoga class thinks.
Hypermobility vs hypermobility disorders
Being hypermobile is common, about 10 to 20 percent of people, and usually harmless or even advantageous (dancers, gymnasts, musicians). It becomes a disorder when joined by symptoms: frequent dislocations, chronic pain, soft fragile skin, or autonomic issues. Hypermobility spectrum disorders and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) are the diagnoses clinicians consider when symptoms cluster.
The Beighton score is one criterion among several for hEDS, not the whole diagnosis. If hypermobility comes with pain or instability, a rheumatologist or geneticist is the right next step, not more stretching. For related musculoskeletal screening, see our BASDAI activity index and Berg balance scale.
Living well with hypermobile joints
The counterintuitive prescription for loose joints is strength, not stretching. Strong muscles stabilize what ligaments do not, so resistance training, done with careful form and without hyperextending, is the foundation. Proprioception work (balance exercises) teaches the brain where the joints are, reducing the clumsiness hypermobile people often report.
Avoid the trap of stretching into instability: yoga and contortion-style flexibility work can worsen symptoms in hypermobile joints. Pain that persists despite sensible training deserves professional assessment, not tougher stretching.
Hypermobility in sport and dance
Coaches have known about hypermobility forever: the gymnast who folds effortlessly, the dancer with beautiful lines, the musician with spider fingers. Loose joints are a genuine performance advantage in flexibility sports, which is why hypermobile kids get steered toward gymnastics and ballet, sometimes before anyone checks whether their joints can handle the load.
The trade shows up as injury patterns. Hypermobile athletes sprain ankles more, dislocate shoulders more, and develop chronic pain earlier, because stability comes from muscles that youth and talent let them skip. The fix is not quitting the sport: it is strength-first coaching, where resistance training and controlled landings come before the spectacular tricks.
Parents should watch for the warning signs that separate bendy from struggling: joints that slip or lock, pain after practice that outlasts normal soreness, and a kid who is "clumsy" despite being athletic. A sports-medicine evaluation beats another year of pushing through.
When hypermobility needs a geneticist
Most hypermobility needs nothing but strength training. A smaller group needs a geneticist, and the red flags are specific: skin that is unusually soft, stretchy, or fragile; easy bruising and slow wound healing; a family history of aneurysm or organ rupture; tall stature with long limbs and chest deformities suggesting Marfan features; or dislocations that happen with minimal force.
Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is diagnosed clinically, by criteria that combine the Beighton score with systemic features and family history, while other EDS types have genetic tests. The appointment involves a detailed exam, measurements, and family history mapping; bring what you know about relatives' joints, skin, and heart issues.
The reason to go is not the label but the screening it triggers. Vascular EDS changes heart monitoring; classical EDS changes surgical planning. Even when the answer is "hypermobile but healthy," that verdict, from someone who checked properly, is worth having.
Bring records, not just memories: previous injury reports, any heart imaging, and a written family history going back two generations. Photos of skin findings help, since they fade from memory. Most genetics clinics need a referral, so start with your primary-care doctor or rheumatologist and name the specific concern, a possible connective-tissue disorder, rather than just bendy joints.
For informational purposes only, not medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a normal Beighton score?
Below the hypermobility cutoff: under 5 for adults to 50, under 6 for children, under 4 over 50. Most people score 0 to 2.
What does a Beighton score of 7 mean?
Generalized joint hypermobility (threshold is 5+ for adults). Alone it is common and often harmless; with pain or dislocations, discuss it with a clinician.
Is hypermobility the same as Ehlers-Danlos?
No. Hypermobility is a trait; hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a disorder diagnosed by broader criteria including symptoms, skin findings, and family history.
Can hypermobility cause pain?
Yes. Unstable joints suffer more microtrauma, and poor proprioception adds awkward loading. Strength training, not more stretching, is the usual fix.
Do children outgrow hypermobility?
Often partially: scores naturally fall with age as tissues stiffen, which is why cutoffs are age-adjusted. Symptomatic children still deserve evaluation.
Should hypermobile people stretch?
Cautiously. Strength and stability work help more than stretching into already-loose joints. Avoid pushing joints to their end range repeatedly.
Is the Beighton score used for diagnosis?
It is one component of hypermobility disorder criteria, not a standalone diagnosis. Clinical context and other features complete the picture.
Can you be hypermobile in joints the Beighton misses?
Yes: shoulders, hips, ankles, and jaw are not tested. The score samples five sites as a proxy for generalized laxity, and it can miss local hypermobility.