Bernhoff, Gabriella, Huhmar, Helena, Käll, Lina Bunketorp · Journal of back and musculoskeletal rehabilitation · 2022 · DOI
Some ME/CFS patients have joints that are unusually flexible or loose, which doctors call systemic joint laxity. This study tested whether a simple physical exam called the Beighton score—where doctors check how flexible your joints are—accurately identifies this condition. The researchers found that the Beighton score alone isn't reliable enough on its own and works better when combined with questions about your medical history.
Joint hypermobility and connective tissue features are recognized comorbidities in ME/CFS that may contribute to symptom severity and functional impairment. Establishing reliable assessment methods is crucial for accurate diagnosis and stratification of ME/CFS phenotypes, which could improve clinical management and research participant selection.
This study does not establish whether joint laxity causes ME/CFS symptoms or whether treating joint laxity improves ME/CFS outcomes. It also cannot determine optimal diagnostic criteria for joint laxity in ME/CFS populations, as it only evaluates one screening tool's performance. The findings may not generalize to all ME/CFS patients, as participants were from secondary care settings.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Bernhoff, Gabriella, Huhmar, Helena, & Käll, Lina Bunketorp (2022). Assessment of systemic joint laxity in the clinical context: Relevance and replicability of the Beighton score in chronic fatigue.. Journal of back and musculoskeletal rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.3233/BMR-210081
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-bernhoff-2022-assessment-systemic,
author = {Bernhoff, Gabriella and Huhmar, Helena and Käll, Lina Bunketorp},
title = {Assessment of systemic joint laxity in the clinical context: Relevance and replicability of the Beighton score in chronic fatigue.},
journal = {Journal of back and musculoskeletal rehabilitation},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.3233/BMR-210081},
note = {PubMed: 34957987},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/bernhoff-2022-assessment-systemic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/bernhoff-2022-assessment-systemic
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