Low Flexibility Linked to Higher Mortality Rates

Men and women with low physical flexibility face significantly higher risks of death compared to their more flexible peers, according to new research involving 3,140 individuals aged 46-65 years. The study highlights the importance of flexibility exercises and assessments in middle-aged health evaluations.

Men with low physical flexibility may face nearly double the risk of death, while women with low flexibility could have nearly five times the risk of dying compared to those with greater flexibility, according to new research.

The researchers examined almost 3,140 people, aged 46-65 years, and developed a body flexibility score, which was arrived at after assessing the participants' motion in 20 movements, including seven related to joints. ''Being aerobically fit and strong and having good balance have been previously associated with low mortality. We were able to show that reduced body flexibility is also related to poor survival in middle-aged men and women,'' said the study's corresponding author Claudio Gil S. Araujo of the Exercise Medicine Clinic-CLINIMEX in Brazil.

The findings are published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. Over an average follow-up period of almost 13 years, the researchers found that body flexibility was inversely related to death risk and was nearly 10 per cent higher for survivors compared to non-survivors in both men and women. Flexibility among women was also found to be 35 per cent higher than that among men. Specifically, researchers discovered that men with low flexibility had a 1.87-time higher risk of dying, while women had a 4.78-time higher risk, compared to their more flexible counterparts.

Araujo emphasized that as flexibility tends to decrease with age, it is worth paying more attention to flexibility exercises and routinely including assessments of body flexibility as part of all health-related physical fitness evaluations.

(With inputs from agencies.)