Can You Touch Your Toes? It May Be Important

Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you.  Reaching forward from the hips and touch your toes.  You can point your toes upwards, but you can’t bend your knees.  Any luck?  If you succeed, your coronary arteries are probably as flexible as you are, and in good shape.  That’s according to a report from Texas in the American Journal of Heart and Circulatory Physiology.

Over 500 healthy adults aged 20 to 83 were tested as above, in 3 groups according to age: 20 to 39, 40 to 59, and 80 and above.  They were then sorted into either highly flexible or poorly flexible groups.  Arterial stiffness was then measured by measuring the time taken for the pulse to travel from the arm to the leg, using blood-pressure cuffs applied to the upper arm and ankle.  (Supple artery walls allow blood to move more freely through the body.)

There was a clear correlation between the poorly-flexible bodies and stiffer arteries in the two groups aged 40 and above.  There was no such correlation in  those subjects under 40.

These results show that a less flexible body (inability to touch your toes) indicates arterial stiffening, especially in middle-aged and older adults.  This is probably because there’s less elastic tissue in these people’s arteries and the muscles in their back and back of their legs.  And arterial stiffening, especially in the coronary arteries, is not a good thing. 

Of course, if you can’t touch your toes because your belly gets in the way, that’s another matter – but it’s also a health warning!