Doc Ashton

I’m a passionate Osteopath with a special interest in hypermobility, EDS & HSD.

I help people all around the world better understand how to move their bendy bodies. For help/advice please book an appointment with my team in person in Melbourne or Online

30/10/2026

5 questions I get asked ALL the time about exercise and hypermobility 👀

If you’re hypermobile and want to get stronger, return to running, build your fitness or simply feel more confident in your body, chances are you’ve wondered about at least one of these.

There is a lot of conflicting information out there about what you should and shouldn’t do when you’re hypermobile. Should you lift heavy? Is running off the table? Do you need to avoid end-range movement? And how do you know when you’re pushing too hard?

Being hypermobile doesn’t mean you need to stop moving, stop exercising or stop challenging yourself.

It does mean that understanding your body, stabilising your joints, building capacity, finding the right approach to loading and progressing exercise can be very important for your journey.

It’s also important to understand if your hypermobile joints are symptomatic, that there may be other factors to consider, including comorbidities like dysautonomia, POTS and MCAS which can be associated with connective tissue disorders like hEDS and HSD.

What works for one person may not work for another. Your symptoms, medical history, current capacity, goals and individual circumstances all play a role in determining what’s appropriate for you.

The aim isn’t to put limitations around what you can do. It’s to help you find a way to move, train and build strength that works for your body. 💪🏽

Save this post for your next training session and send it to a hypermobile friend who needs to hear it!

**This content is for general educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It may not be applicable to everyone. Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for individual assessment and advice tailored to your needs.

20/10/2026

Being named a finalist in the Australian Professionals Small Business Champion Awards is something I’m genuinely proud of.

But the journey to becoming a finalist started well before submitting an application. It started with the work I care deeply about every day at Alpha Sports Medicine, and the kind of healthcare professional I want to be.

When I was asked to share my story of leadership at Alpha Sports Medicine , I found myself reflecting on what leadership in healthcare actually means to me, and what I’m doing to help improve the landscape of healthcare, particularly for people living with hypermobility, connective tissue disorders and complex illness.

For me, it’s being willing to question the way things have always been done.

It’s advocating for people who have spent years being misunderstood, dismissed or told they’re fine because they don’t look unwell.

It’s recognising that having joint hypermobility is about so much more than just having “flexible joints”, and that good healthcare requires us to look beyond the obvious.

It’s holding space for the difficult stories. Listening when things are complicated. Being humble enough to say “I don’t know” then putting in the work to research, learn and keep asking better questions.

I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t think leadership means pretending that I do.

I believe it means staying curious, sharing what I learn, challenging outdated assumptions and helping create an environment where patients feel understood, heard and seen.

That’s the change I want to contribute to, at Alpha and across the healthcare landscape. Healthcare that is more thoughtful, more collaborative and more about the person sitting in front of us.

Being named a finalist as a leader in healthcare is an incredible milestone, but it reminds me why I do this work, and why I will continue to keep pushing for better.

🫶🏽

13/10/2026

Melbourne Marathon weekend is done. 🏃‍♀️ So, what’s next?

I’ve been loving seeing my Hypermobile clients this week in the clinic post race, but there’s a common theme coming up in conversation, when should I start training for my next event?

For hypermobile runners, who are eager to the next start line, the next phase matters just as much as the training that got you there.

💙 Give your body time to recover, it was HOT out there! Hydration with electrolytes is essential and sleep is a must!  💙 Return to running based on symptoms and readiness, not an arbitrary timeline. 💙 Keep building strength and control. 💙 Reflect on what worked, and what didn’t. 💙 Plan your next event

Remember that being hypermobile doesn’t mean you need to avoid running or stick to low impact exercise. It means building the capacity to tolerate the demands of the activities you love 🫶🏽

Your next training block is an opportunity to learn from the last one.

Here’s to setting big goals, training smart, prioritising recovery and proving that bendy bodies can do hard things. 💪

Need help? Our team at Alpha Sports Med are running and Hypermobility experts, we’re here for every step of the journey 💪🏽

*this is for information purposes only and is not medical advice. This information may not apply to you and your current situation, speak to a health professional to discuss your personal situation and whether running is something for you.

05/10/2026

Dysautonomia can be invisible, but the symptoms are very real.

For Dysautonomia Awareness Month, I wanted to talk about something I wish more people understood: you can look completely fine while your autonomic nervous system is struggling to regulate things that most of us take for granted.

Heart racing when you stand.
Dizziness.
Fatigue.
Brain fog.
Exercise intolerance.
Heat intolerance.
Feeling faint.
GI symptoms.
Feeling completely wiped after something that “shouldn’t” have been that hard.

And these symptoms are often dismissed as anxiety, dehydration, being unfit, stress, or simply “one of those things.”

I know this can be frustrating because I’ve experienced my own journey with dysautonomia. There have been times when I’ve questioned whether I was just tired, overworked or not coping well enough, when in reality, there was more going on physiologically.

Working clinically with hypermobility has made me appreciate how important it is to look beyond the obvious musculoskeletal presentation. hEDS/HSD and dysautonomia can overlap, and recognising that connection can completely change the way we approach someone’s symptoms, exercise tolerance and rehabilitation.

This doesn’t mean every episode of dizziness or fatigue is dysautonomia, but it does mean we should be asking better questions.

And as practitioners, sometimes the most important thing we can do is listen when someone’s symptoms don’t fit the mould.

I learned nothing about dysautonomia at university, awareness needs to reach everyone working in a clinical space, we can be the change our healthcare system needs.

*This post is for education and awareness only and is not medical advice or a substitute for individual assessment by a qualified healthcare professional.

29/09/2026

September holiday dump 🍂 Hong Kong, China and South Korea, shared with family and friends, celebrating birthdays and weddings, it was a trip full of love with memories I’ll cherish forever ❤️

27/09/2026

Running in Seoul from the New Balance Run Hub, Bukchon 🏃🏼‍♀️

This was such a cool concept! As someone with a bendy body, and a curvy one, I often struggle to find running clothes that don’t roll up, chafe or irritate my skin. So this for me was a bit of a gamble 😅

I was very impressed with the running shorts these were great! No rolling and no chafe! And the shirts, even though they were black felt light and breezy, they stayed dry the whole time. For my shoes I chose the wide fit “more” range, even though they were the biggest size that had, they still felt small and my toes went numb (big feet problems).

There’s definitely cool technology going on here at New Balance and an innovative way to have runners experience the product first hand

Seoul is so beautiful, I loved this run ❤️ would recommend checking this out if you’re a runner in Seoul

Address

109 Blackshaws Road, Newport
Melbourne, VIC
3015

Website

http://Www.alphasportsmed.com.au/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Doc Ashton posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.