Flexibility test may indicate heart risk

DENTON, Texas (UPI) -- Whether someone can reach his or her toes from a sitting position on the floor may be an indicator of heart risk, U.S. and Japanese researchers said. Among people age 40 and older, performance on the sit-and-reach test could be used to assess the flexibility of the arteries. Arterial stiffness often precedes cardiovascular disease and the results suggest that this simple test could become a quick measure of an individual's risk for early mortality from heart attack or stroke, researchers said. Study author Kenta Yamamoto, of the University of North Texas and the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Japan, and colleagues in Japan said it is not known why arterial flexibility would be related to the flexibility of the body in middle age and older people. However, the study authors said that one possibility is that stretching exercises may set into motion physiological reactions that slow down age-related arterial stiffening. "Our findings have potentially important clinical implications because trunk flexibility can be easily evaluated," Yamamoto said in a statement. "This simple test might help to prevent age-related arterial stiffening." The findings are published in the American Journal of Physiology.
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