How to Turn and Get Out of Bed Safely with Hypermobility: Prevent Joint Slips Using Low-Friction Techniques

Why Moving in Bed Is Difficult with Hypermobility

Hypermobility and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome affect your connective tissues, making joints extra flexible but often less stable. Movements that are easy for others—like rolling over or sitting up—can cause your joints to slip partially (sublux) or fully dislocate.

This can lead to sharp pain, inflammation, and a feeling that your joints are “giving way.” Over time, you may start to avoid moving, which can increase stiffness, weakness, and fatigue.

The aim is not to stop moving, but to move differently: with more control, less friction, and better support for your joints.

What Commonly Goes Wrong When Turning in Bed

Many people with hypermobility notice that certain patterns trigger joint slips or pain. Recognising these helps you change how you move.

Typical Problem Patterns

• Twisting in one block: Rolling quickly without supporting your joints can cause shoulders, hips, or spine to shift unexpectedly.
• Using arms or legs as levers: Pushing hard through your shoulders, elbows, hips, or knees can overstretch lax ligaments and trigger subluxations.
• Dragging against the mattress: High friction between your body and the bed can make you “stick,” so you end up jerking or overreaching to complete the movement.
• Letting limbs dangle: Allowing arms or legs to hang off the bed without support can pull on unstable joints.
• Moving too fast when tired or in pain: Fatigue reduces muscle control, so quick movements become less accurate and more risky.

How to Fix These Patterns

• Break movements into small, separate steps instead of one big roll.
• Move from your centre (pelvis and trunk) rather than pulling with your limbs.
• Use a low-friction surface (like a Snoozle Slide Sheet) so you can glide instead of drag.
• Keep joints in a neutral, mid-range position—not fully straight, not fully bent.
• Support loose joints with pillows, cushions, or braces if advised by your clinician.

Before You Start: Set Up for Safer Movement

Positioning Your Body

Start on your back if possible:

• Bend your knees so your feet are flat on the mattress. This helps stabilise hips and lower back.
• Keep your arms close to your sides with elbows slightly bent, not locked straight.
• Use a pillow that keeps your neck in line with your spine—too high or too low can strain neck joints.

Placing the Snoozle Slide Sheet

The Snoozle Slide Sheet should sit under the areas you want to move most easily, usually:

• Under your hips and pelvis, and
• Optionally under your shoulders and upper back if you struggle to roll.

It should lie flat on the mattress with no wrinkles. Snoozle is for sliding and repositioning in bed only—never for lifting or transferring between bed and chair.

Step-by-Step: Turning Safely in Bed

Use these steps to roll from your back onto your side. Move slowly and pause if anything feels unstable.

Step 1: Prepare and Protect Your Joints

• Bend both knees, feet flat on the bed.
• Bring your knees and ankles close together to help stabilise hips and knees.
• If your shoulders or hips are prone to slipping, consider wearing any prescribed braces or supports.

Step 2: Small Pelvic Bridge (Optional)

If you can do this comfortably:

• Gently press your heels into the mattress.
• Lift your pelvis just a few centimetres—no higher than needed.
• Keep your ribs relaxed and avoid arching your lower back.

This light bridge reduces pressure and allows the Snoozle to glide more easily under your hips. If bridging causes pain or instability, skip this step and move directly to sliding.

Step 3: Slide Your Hips Sideways

• With or without the light bridge, gently shift your pelvis toward the side you want to roll onto.
• Let the Snoozle Slide Sheet do the work—aim for a smooth glide, not a push.
• Keep your knees together and avoid twisting your spine while your hips move.

Step 4: Move Your Legs as a Unit

• Still on your back, keep your knees bent and together.
• Slowly let both knees roll toward the side you are turning to.
• Do not let one leg drop or dangle off the bed—this can pull on hip and knee joints.

Step 5: Roll Your Torso with Control

• Place the arm on the side you are turning across your chest or in front of you.
• Use your other hand to gently press into the mattress, helping your shoulders follow your hips.
• Let your shoulders and pelvis roll together, like a log, rather than twisting your spine.
• Keep your head aligned with your spine; you can turn your head in the same direction as your roll.

Step 6: Support Your Final Side-Lying Position

• Place a pillow between your knees and ankles to keep hips and knees aligned.
• If needed, hug a pillow to support your shoulders and prevent them from rolling too far.
• Adjust your head pillow so your neck feels neutral—not tilted up or down.

If you need to turn back, reverse the steps slowly, using the Snoozle to help you slide your pelvis and shoulders rather than drag them.

Step-by-Step: Getting Out of Bed Safely

This method aims to avoid sudden drops, twisting, or heavy pushing through unstable joints.

Step 1: Start in a Supported Side-Lying Position

• Lie on your side facing the edge of the bed.
• Keep your knees bent and stacked, with a pillow between them if this feels more stable.
• Make sure your shoulders, hips, and knees are in a straight line.

Step 2: Slide Closer to the Edge (Using Snoozle)

• With the Snoozle under your hips and trunk, gently slide your body toward the edge.
• Use small, repeated slides rather than one big movement.
• Stop when your knees are close to the edge but not yet hanging off the bed.

Step 3: Lower Your Legs Together

• Keeping your knees together, slowly lower both legs off the side of the bed at the same time.
• Do not let one leg drop first—this can twist your pelvis and strain your lower back or hips.
• Allow the weight of your legs to gently help rotate your body toward sitting.

Step 4: Push Up to Sitting with Protected Joints

• As your legs lower, place your top hand on the mattress in front of your chest.
• Use your arms and your core together to push your upper body up into sitting.
• Keep elbows slightly bent and avoid locking any joints.
• Let the Snoozle help your hips slide slightly as you come upright, instead of dragging.

Step 5: Pause in Sitting Before Standing

• Sit on the edge of the bed with both feet flat on the floor.
• Take a few breaths and check for dizziness, pain, or joint instability.
• If you use a walking aid or grab rail, position it within easy reach before you stand.

Only stand when you feel steady. If standing is difficult or unsafe, speak to a healthcare professional about additional equipment or support.

Using the Snoozle Slide Sheet Safely and Effectively

The Snoozle Slide Sheet is a low-friction fabric that reduces the effort needed to move your body on the mattress. For people with hypermobility, this can mean less pushing, pulling, and twisting through vulnerable joints.

What Snoozle Is For

• Repositioning in bed: Sliding up, down, or sideways on the mattress.
• Assisting turns: Helping your hips and shoulders glide together when rolling.
• Energy conservation: Reducing the effort needed to move, which can help with fatigue.

What Snoozle Is Not For

• Not for lifting you off the bed.
• Not for transferring between bed, chair, or wheelchair.
• Not for any movement where part of your body is dangling or unsupported.

Tips for Hypermobile Joints

• Use Snoozle to slide the whole body segment (pelvis and trunk together), not to drag a single limb.
• Keep movements slow so you can feel if a joint is starting to slip and stop early.
• If a particular joint often subluxes, consider extra support (pillows, braces, or taping) as advised by your clinician.

How These Techniques Can Affect Pain, Fatigue, and Sleep

More controlled, low-friction movements can reduce the small, repeated strains on your joints and soft tissues. Over time, this may mean fewer pain spikes from subluxations or awkward movements in the night.

Because you are using less force to move, you may also save energy. For many people with hypermobility or EDS, this can help reduce fatigue and make it easier to manage daily tasks.

These strategies do not cure hypermobility, but they can make night-time movement safer and more manageable, supporting more comfortable and restorative sleep.

Safety Checks and When to Modify

• If a step causes sharp pain, a feeling of giving way, or repeated subluxations, stop and adjust the movement.
• You may need smaller steps, more pillows, or to change the angle of your hips or knees.
• If you cannot move safely on your own, consider supervised practice with a physiotherapist or occupational therapist.

When to Seek Professional Help

Even with good technique and a slide sheet, some people need extra support.

• Frequent or severe dislocations or subluxations during simple bed movements.
• New or worsening pain, swelling, or bruising after turning or getting out of bed.
• Increasing weakness, numbness, or loss of control in your limbs.
• Severe sleep disruption due to pain or fear of movement.
• Uncertainty about how to use aids like Snoozle safely in your specific situation.

A physiotherapist, occupational therapist, or specialist familiar with hypermobility or EDS can help you tailor these strategies to your body and your bed set-up.

Related comfort guides

• Effortless Bed Mobility for MS: Using Momentum and Snoozle to Move Without Pain or Fatigue
• Effortless Bed Mobility for Those Living Alone with Pain and Low Energy: Practical Bedroom Planning and Movement Strategies
• Effortless Bed Mobility with Knee Osteoarthritis: How to Move and Get Up Without Aggravating Pain