Can’t touch your toes? A study suggests you may be at five times the risk of death compared to those who can.
Data from more than 3,000 middle-aged people found that those who found exercise difficult were much more likely to die within a decade, compared with those who were more flexible.
Brazilian researchers assessed the flexibility of study participants using a system called Flexindex.
This article examines how people can stretch in 20 different ways using seven different joints; some examples include being able to touch their toes or being able to touch the back of their left shoulder with their right hand above their head.
At the end of the tests, people receive a total score between 0 and 80.
Brazilian researchers assessed the flexibility of study participants using a system called Flexindex (file image)
In the most recent analysis, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, experts found that people aged 46 to 65 with higher Flexindex scores were two to five times more likely to survive the next decade.
Of the more than 3,000 participants included in the analysis, approximately one in ten was dead at the end of the study.
Survivors had a nearly 10 percent higher Flexindex score compared with those who died, said the authors, from the Exercise Medicine Clinic – CLINIMEX, in Rio de Janeiro.
This translated into women with a low Flexindex score having an almost five-fold increased risk of dying.
Men with a low score had almost double the risk once factors such as age, obesity and existing health conditions were taken into account.
Dr Claudio Gil S. Araújo, one of the authors of the paper, said: ‘Being aerobically fit and strong and having good balance have previously been associated with low mortality.
‘We were able to show that reduced body flexibility is also associated with lower survival in middle-aged men and women.’
She added that since flexibility tends to decrease as we age, people may want to include stretching exercises in their routine and doctors may want to perform flexibility assessments in physical health evaluations.
The NHS also warns that improving flexibility can help reduce the risk of injury.
The recent study had several limitations.
One is that participants were predominantly white and wealthy, which may limit the implications for other groups.