Clinical assessment of skin hyperextensibility

Skin hyperextensibility can be assessed using the "rubber glove test"; as the skin fold is gently pulled away from the skin surface, the true nature of the stretching process can be observed. In the joint hypermobility syndrome or the hypermobility type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, the characteristic finding is that the whole skin over the dorsal aspect of the hand (up to and beyond the wrist in some cases) is seen to take part in the stretching process as if the patient's skin were a rubber glove. In a normal individual, skin is seen to stretch to a lesser degree and only in the region adjacent to where the fold is raised.