According to recent research, men with low physical flexibility may face nearly twice the risk of death, while women with low flexibility could have a nearly fivefold increased risk of dying compared to those with higher flexibility.
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," the study's corresponding author Claudio Gil S.Araujo, Exercise Medicine Clinic-CLINIMEX, Brazil.
The findings are published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.
Over an average follow-up period of nearly 13 years, researchers, including those from the Exercise Medicine Clinic-CLINIMEX in Brazil, discovered that body flexibility was inversely associated with mortality risk. Survivors exhibited approximately 10 per cent greater flexibility compared to non-survivors, regardless of gender.
The authors found that flexibility among women was 35 per cent higher than that among men.
They also discovered that individuals with low physical flexibility scores faced a significantly higher risk of mortality, with men being 1.87 times more likely to die and women being 4.78 times more likely to die compared to those with high physical flexibility scores.
Araujo pointed out that as flexibility tends to decrease with ageing, it may be worth paying more attention to flexibility exercises and routinely including assessments of body flexibility as part of all health-related physical fitness evaluations.
(with PTI inputs)
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