STABLE Pilates for Hypermobility (STABLE)

August 17, 2026 updated by: Samantha Meints, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Pilates for Hypermobility: A Pilot Feasibility Study

This study is looking at whether Pilates-based exercise can help with hypermobility-related symptoms, like pain.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

In this study, investigators are looking at whether 6 weeks of Pilates-based exercise led by a licensed physical therapist can help with hypermobility-related symptoms, like pain. Pilates is a gentle mind-body exercise with an emphasis on muscular control, postural awareness, and breathing that may be particularly well-suited for managing hypermobility. Exercises are mostly floor-based and focus on developing muscular strength and stability which may improve pain and symptom management.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
100

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States, 01467
        • Recruiting
        • Brigham and Women's Hospital
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • ≥ 18 years old;
  • Self-reported hypermobility with confirmed or suspected diagnosis of hEDS/HSD;
  • Self-reported persistent pain ≥ 3 months;
  • A minimum of 3/10 self-reported pain intensity in the past week
  • Able to get on and off the floor without assistance;
  • Able to communicate fluently in English; and
  • Able to provide written, informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Regular ongoing mind-body practice (e.g. Tai chi, yoga, pilates) defined as a regular weekly practice of at least 20min/week over the past 6 months;
  • Recent surgery or acute bone, joint or nerve injury (<6 months);
  • Have a history of a severe or progressive neurological or movement disorder;
  • Pregnant, planning to become pregnant during the study, or currently breast feeding;
  • Unable to get on and off the floor without assistance;
  • Unable to complete study procedures due to cognitive impairment;
  • Unable to provide written, informed consent; or
  • Currently participating in or planning to participate in another physical activity, mind-body or pain-related intervention research study in the next 4 months.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Pilates
6 weeks of once weekly in-person Pilates-based exercise classes
Behavioral: Pilates
Pilates is a gentle mind-body exercise with an emphasis on muscular control, postural awareness, and breathing that may be particularly well-suited for managing hypermobility. Exercises are mostly floor-based and focus on developing muscular strength and stability which may improve pain and symptom management
Active Comparator: Enhanced Usual Care
6 weeks of once weekly educational seminars pertaining to hypermobility symptom management
Behavioral: Education
Educational seminars pertaining to hypermobility symptom management

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Intervention Feasibility
Time Frame: Enrollment to end of intervention (week 6) and follow-up (week 12)
Recruitment, Retention, Attendance
Enrollment to end of intervention (week 6) and follow-up (week 12)
Acceptability
Time Frame: Enrollment to end of intervention (week 6)
Treatment Helpfulness Questionnaire (THQ): The THQ is a single-item measure that evaluates the perception of helpfulness of an intervention. Participants will be asked to rate the helpfulness of the intervention to which they are randomized on a scale of -5 (extremely harmful) to 5 (extremely helpful) with 0 indicating "neutral."
Enrollment to end of intervention (week 6)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain intensity
Time Frame: Baseline, week 6 and week 12
The Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Profile (PROMIS-29) will be used to assess pain intensity. Scores range from 8-40 with higher scores indicating a greater presence of the corresponding construct.
Baseline, week 6 and week 12
Pain interference
Time Frame: Baseline, week 6 and week 12
The Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Profile (PROMIS-29) will be used to assess pain interference. Scores range from 8-40 with higher scores indicating a greater presence of the corresponding construct.
Baseline, week 6 and week 12
Bristol Questionnaire
Time Frame: Baseline, week 6 and week 12
The Bristol Impact of Hypermobility Questionnaire will be used to assess the self-reported functional impact of joint hypermobility. Higher scores indicate more severe functional impact
Baseline, week 6 and week 12
WPI
Time Frame: Baseline, week 6 and week 12
The Widespread Pain Inventory (WPI) will be used to assess the widespreadness of body pain. Scores range from 0-19 with higher scores indicating more widespread pain.
Baseline, week 6 and week 12
PCS
Time Frame: Baseline, week 6 and week 12
The Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) will be used to assess pain-related rumination, magnification, and helplessness in response to pain. Scores range from 0-52 with higher scores indicating more pain catastrophizing.
Baseline, week 6 and week 12
MAIA-2
Time Frame: Baseline, week 6 and week 12
The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness-2 (MAIA-2) will be used to assess 8 domains pertaining to beliefs about the body and tendencies to be internally focused, including noticing, not distracting, not worrying, attention regulation, emotional awareness, body listening and trusting. Scores range from 0-5 with higher scores indicating higher interoceptive sensibility.
Baseline, week 6 and week 12
TSK
Time Frame: Baseline, week 6 and week 12
The Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) will be used to assess fear of movement. Scores range from 17-68 with higher scores indicating more fear of movement.
Baseline, week 6 and week 12
SHS
Time Frame: Baseline, week 6 and week 12
The Sensory Hypersensitivity Scale (SHS) will be used to assess multisensory sensitivity to items related to sensitivity to light, heat, cold, allergies, pain, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. Higher scores indicate more multisensory sensitivity. The scale will be modified to include an additional rating of bothersomeness from 1 (Not bothersome at all) to 5 (Extremely bothersome) for each of the original scale items to evaluate multisensory bothersomeness
Baseline, week 6 and week 12
Overall physical and mental health
Time Frame: Baseline, week 6 and week 12
The Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Profile (PROMIS-29) will be used to assess overall physical and mental health, with subscales including physical function, anxiety, depression, fatigue, social participation, and sleep disturbance. Scores range from 8-40 with higher scores indicating a greater degree of the corresponding construct
Baseline, week 6 and week 12
Heartrate Variability
Time Frame: Enrollment to end of intervention (week 6) and follow-up (week 12)
resting HRV
Enrollment to end of intervention (week 6) and follow-up (week 12)
Functional mobility
Time Frame: Enrollment to end of intervention (week 6) and follow-up (week 12)
Functional mobility will be assessed using the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test
Enrollment to end of intervention (week 6) and follow-up (week 12)
Functional endurance
Time Frame: Enrollment to end of intervention (week 6) and follow-up (week 12)
Functional endurance will be measured with the 2-minute walk test (2MWT)
Enrollment to end of intervention (week 6) and follow-up (week 12)

Other Outcome Measures

Other Outcome Measures

For clinical trials, a planned measurement described in the protocol that is used to determine the effect of an intervention/treatment on participants. For observational studies, a measurement or observation that is used to describe patterns of diseases or traits, or associations with exposures, risk factors, or treatment. Types of outcome measures include primary outcome measure and secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain Sensitivity
Time Frame: Baseline testing
Pain sensitivity will be assessed using a Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) battery. The QST assessment will include responses to innocuous stimuli, mechanical pain sensitivity, heat sensitivity, conditioned pain modulation, and temporal summation of pain (a measure of central sensitizability).
Baseline testing

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Brigham and Women's Hospital

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Bernard Osher Foundation

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Samantha Meints, PhD, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
July 9, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
December 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
March 3, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
March 5, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
March 11, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
August 19, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 17, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 2026P000203

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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