Flexibility might just unlock the door to greater health and happiness – a recent study states that working on body flexibility can enhance the quality of life and alleviate the risk of premature death. Flexibility comes handy at every age – be it in our teenage years or in adulthood. Body flexibility and working on it helps in unlocking greater potential for better health.

The research was led by Dr. Claudio Gil S. Araújo, Exercise Medicine Clinic, where the study was conducted on 3,139 middle-aged adults (2,087 men and 1,052 women) between the ages of 46 and 65. The researchers used a comprehensive flexibility assessment tool called the Flexitest where they examined 20 different joint movements across seven major joints in the body. Usually when a study is conducted to understand physical health, cardiovascular fitness and strength are taken into consideration. However, this study solely focused on body flexibility.

Which joint movements were studied?

The research studied the joint movements including that of the ankles, knees, hips, trunk, wrists, elbows, and shoulders. The research followed the participants over a period of 13 years to understand their health outcomes and survival rates.

Other factors:

Factors such as age, body mass index (BMI), and overall health status were also considered during the study. However, the research outcome suggested that people with more body flexibility had lower risk of premature death.

Flexibility and death rate: The connection

It was observed in the study that among men, people in the lowest 10 percentage of flexibility and a 21.2 percentage death rate, while the people among the highest 10 percentage of flexibility had a 7.8 percentage death rate. Among women, 15.4 percentage of death rate was observed in the ones among the lowest flexibility level, while the ones in the higher flexibility level demonstrated only 2 percentage of death rate. The study also suggested that women are more flexible than men.

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