Contortion is the bending and twisting of the human body past normal range of motion.  Contortionists are extremely flexible and also have to be quite strong to hold certain positions.  Most contortionists are women but men can become contortionists too.

A lot of contortionists start training very early on, when the body is most flexible.  Most of the time it takes much longer to become flexible as an adult rather than as a child.  Most people believe that they just aren’t flexible and can never be.  WRONG! Anyone can become flexible if they really want to.  As with anything you want to achieve, hard work has to be put in to see some kind of desired results.

Contortionists can be divided into two categories: frontbenders and backbenders.  Most contortionists are usually only good at one type.  There is a more vast array of moves and poses one can do as a backbender.

A person with EDSAlthough most contortionists have perfectly normal, healthy bodies, some have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which is a connective tissue disorder involving the joints and skin.  It is classified as a rare disease by the NIH, meaning that it affects less than 200,000 people in the USA.  EDS can cause hyperextensible joints and loose skin.  I have done a bit of research and have found that in sports or arts that require back flexibility, spondylolisthesis (the slipping forward of one vertebrae) can happen, as it has happened to me.  This condition can be a birth defect, caused by underdeveloped parts of a vertebrae.  People with spondylolisthesis can often have no symptoms at all, or they can have mild to severe back pain, depending on how far the vertebrae has slipped off.

That last paragraph wasn’t meant to scare anyone, just to inform.  If you want to start contortion I would suggest getting a physical at your doctor’s office to make sure everything is working right.  Also when you start, GO SLOW. Some people can become bendy super fast, while the majority of us can’t.  If you start to feel pain in your lower back while you are just sitting or standing, and it is pain that isn’t related to muscle soreness, I would recommend slowing down or even stopping your stretching for a while if you do not have a known back condition.  Lower back pain is a sign of a serious problem and you can really harm yourself if you continue.  Please remember, “no pain, no gain” does not apply to lower backs :)

Contortionists often perform in circuses such as Cirque du Soleil. Here is a video of one of my favorite Cirque acts: