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Patient Stories Episodes

July 20, 2023

71. Examining Head, Spine, and Chest Pain with Pradeep Chopra, MD

Connective tissue runs throughout your body, surrounding and connecting every system. This is what makes treating issues that arise from connective tissue disorders so difficult: when everything is connected, it’s hard to fin...

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June 29, 2023

70. Examining Abdominal Pain with Pradeep Chopra, MD

Abdominal pain is an extremely common finding in people with connective tissue disorders, like Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS). Similar to other issues patients face with EDS or Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders (HSD), getting ...

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May 25, 2023

68. Fostering Hope for Hypermobility with Cortney Gensemer, PhD, Vict…

Symptomatic joint hypermobility can be difficult to understand and can present in so many different ways. Recently, Victoria Daylor, Dr. Cortney Gensemer, Dr. Russell Norris, and Dr. Linda Bluestein published a CME two-part s...

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May 11, 2023

67. Destigmatizing Eating Disorders with Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani

Eating disorders are complicated and not uncommon in artistic athletes. Common comorbidities of symptomatic joint hypermobility (SJH), like mast cell activation disorder (MCAD) or gastroparesis, may contribute to disordered e...

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April 6, 2023

65. Finding Balance with Jenelle Manzi

Thriving as a professional artist with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome can be challenging. Finding a balance between pushing yourself physically and listening to your body when it needs rest is difficult when you are part of a compan...

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March 9, 2023

63. Shining Your Light with Gigi Robinson

Living with a chronic illness like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) can be demoralizing. You may not have access to the care you need, loved ones do not get it, and loneliness can be a reality for so many people. Gigi Robinson …

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Feb. 9, 2023

61. Getting Back Up Again with Keeya Steel

Life with multiple chronic illnesses is physically and mentally challenging. Feelings of exhaustion and emotional fatigue crowd in with physical symptoms and can be overwhelming in your daily life. How do you find balance? Ho...

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Nov. 3, 2022

55. Cultivating Resiliency with Jazz Bynum

As a young dancer, Jazz Bynum enjoyed the benefits of being “bendy”. Later, she experienced more than her fair share of injuries but it wasn’t clear how these could be connected. A diagnosis of hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syn...

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May 26, 2022

50. Pushing Limits with Jen Crane, DPT

In this Bendy Bodies podcast episode, we discuss circus athletes with EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes) and hypermobility with guest, Jen Crane, DPT. As a physical therapist for circus artists and dancers, Dr. Jen Crane regularly...

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May 12, 2022

49. Pioneering a Path with Bonnie Moore Southgate

In this Bendy Bodies podcast episode, we talk with Bonnie Moore Southgate., a professional ballerina with EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes) and hypermobility. As an elite ballet dancer, Bonnie Moore Southgate danced as a soloist ...

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May 13, 2021

33. Conquering the Wall: A Round Table Discussion

In this Bendy Bodies podcast episode, we discuss dance athletics and EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes) with guests, Marimba Gold-Watts, Mariana J. Plick, Kyle Thompson, and Cailey Brandon. Whether you have a connective tissue dis...

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May 15, 2020

9. Educating the Dance Community with Lisa Howell

Dancing with a hypermobile body brings its own set of challenges, from a general lack of stability to a slower recovery time. As a young pre-professional, a dancer might not understand why she must find conscious strength bef...

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April 12, 2020

6. Minding the Mental Health Gap with Kathleen McGuire Gaines

Traits that can make a dancer so valuable in the dance world - drive, perfectionism, obsessing over details - also put them at higher risk for mental health disorders. And while physical health resources become ever more comm...

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March 30, 2020

4. Supporting a Dancer’s Mental Health with Psychotherapist, Terry Hy…

Dancers train constantly to attain peak performance, working long hours to achieve physical and artistic perfection. Unfortunately, mental health is often sacrificed for that perfection. Terry Hyde, former dancer with the Roy...

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