At Hypermobility Canada, we offer genetic testing to help identify possible causes of your hypermobility symptoms. Because many hypermobility disorders share similar symptoms, it can be difficult to know exactly which test to choose. That’s why we use a comprehensive genetic test that looks at all genes in your genome.

This broad approach examines genes already known to be linked to hypermobility disorders, as well as other genes that may be connected to symptoms you are experiencing now or may develop later. Since all the genes are sequenced, you can request additional analysis (for a fee) now or anytime in the future if new symptoms appear—for example, related to the heart, immune system, or other areas outside hypermobility.

Sometimes, a patient’s test will not find any genetic changes (“a negative result”). Even though this might feel disappointing, it is still valuable because it rules out many possible conditions, helping guide your care and next steps. All genetic tests have limitations. Certain types of genetic changes—like large structural changes, deep intronic variants, copy number variants (CNVs), and very low-level mosaicism—may not be detected with standard sequencing.

Because of these limitations, some people may benefit from additional testing, especially focused on the COL5A1, COL5A2, and COL3A1 genes. If your symptoms strongly suggest conditions related to these genes (such as classical EDS or vascular EDS) and your sequencing test is negative, targeted testing for these genes may be helpful.