Beighton Score Calculator

The Beighton score is a quick 9-point check of how far some of your joints can bend. You get one point for each test you can do, four tests on each side of the body plus one forward bend. Clinicians use it to screen for generalized joint hypermobility, meaning many joints that move further than usual.

What the Beighton Score Measures

It measures how flexible five areas are: little fingers, thumbs, elbows, knees and your spine and hamstrings in a forward bend. A higher score means more joints with a wider range of movement. It does not measure pain, joint damage or strength, and it does not test shoulders, hips, ankles or toes.

The Formula

Beighton score = little fingers (0 to 2) + thumbs (0 to 2) + elbows (0 to 2) + knees (0 to 2) + palms to floor (0 or 1)

One point for each test you can do. The maximum score is 9.

The score was set out in 1973 from a survey of joint mobility in 1,081 people in a South African village¹.

How This Calculator Computes Your Result

Pick your age group, then answer Yes, No or Not tested for each of the 9 tests. Each Yes adds one point. Not tested scores zero, and the tool shows how high your score could be if those tests were positive. You see your total out of 9, a breakdown by body area and the cutoff for your age group. If you are past puberty, you can also answer an optional 5-question checklist.

What Your Result Means

The 2017 international classification of the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes uses these cutoffs for generalized joint hypermobility²:

The cutoffs step down with age, in line with how flexibility changes over life. In the original survey, joint laxity fell quickly through childhood and more slowly in adults, and women were more flexible than men at every age¹.

Your result card shows one of four labels:

Low scores are common. In the 1973 survey, 94% of adult men and 80% of adult women scored 0 to 2¹.

How to Do the Tests Safely

Move slowly, never force a joint, and stop if anything hurts. Skip any test on a joint that is injured, recently operated on or prone to dislocating, and mark it Not tested. A helper or a side-on photo makes the elbow and knee tests easier to judge.

• Little finger (each hand): rest your forearm and palm flat on a table. With your other hand, gently lift the little finger back at the knuckle where it joins the hand. Score a point if it goes past 90 degrees, so it tilts back towards your forearm⁴.

• Thumb (each hand): hold your arm straight out, palm down, and let your wrist bend down. With your other hand, gently press the thumb towards the inside of your forearm. Score a point if it touches the forearm⁴.

• Elbow (each arm): hold your arms straight out with palms up and relax them. Score a point if the elbow bends backwards more than 10 degrees past straight⁴. Ten degrees is about a third of the gap between two hours on a clock face.

• Knee (each leg): stand and let your knees lock back. Score a point if the lower leg bends backwards more than 10 degrees past straight⁴.

• Palms to floor (once): with your knees fully straight, bend forward slowly without bouncing. Score a point if both palms rest fully flat on the floor just in front of your feet⁴. Fingertips alone do not count.

Answer for how your joints move today, not how they used to move.

The Optional 5-Part Questionnaire

Flexibility can fade with age, injury or surgery, so a score taken today can miss hypermobility you had when younger. The 5-part questionnaire asks about this, for example whether you could ever put your hands flat on the floor with straight knees, or consider yourself "double-jointed".

Answering yes to 2 or more questions counts as positive. In the study that created it, this picked up 84% of people with hypermobility and correctly cleared 80% to 89% of people without it³. Under the 2017 criteria, a score one point below the cutoff plus a positive questionnaire can count as generalized joint hypermobility². The questionnaire never adds points to your score.

A High Score Is Not a Diagnosis

Having flexible joints is common, and when it causes no pain or other problems it is not a disorder⁶. A Beighton score alone cannot diagnose hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) or hypermobility spectrum disorder (HSD). hEDS needs generalized joint hypermobility plus other features, such as skin, family history or joint problems, and other causes must be ruled out⁴. Some people have hypermobility only in joints the Beighton tests do not check, such as the shoulders, hips or ankles⁴.

It is worth talking to a doctor or physiotherapist if flexible joints come with frequent pain or stiffness, repeated sprains, joints that keep dislocating, poor balance, or tiredness that does not ease with rest⁷.