Can’t touch your toes? According to a study, you are five times more likely to die than people who can.

Data from over 3,000 middle-aged people showed that those who found exercise difficult had a much higher risk of dying within the next ten years than those who were more flexible.

Brazilian researchers assessed the flexibility of study participants using a system called Flexindex.

It examines how people can stretch in 20 ways using seven different joints. Examples include the ability to touch the toes or to touch the back of the left shoulder with the right hand above the head.

At the end of the tests, participants receive a total score between 0 and 80.

Brazilian researchers assessed the flexibility of study participants using a system called Flexindex (symbol image).

In the latest analysis, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, experts found that people between the ages of 46 and 65 with higher Flexindex scores have a two to five times better chance of surviving the next decade.

Of the more than 3,000 participants included in the analysis, about one in ten was dead at the end of the analysis.

The survivors had a flex index value that was almost 10 percent higher than those who died, said the authors of the Clinic for Sports Medicine – CLINIMEX in Rio de Janeiro.

This meant that women with a low Flexindex score had an almost five times higher risk of death.

For men with a low score, the risk is almost twice as high when factors such as age, obesity and existing health conditions are taken into account.

Dr. Claudio Gil S. Araújo, one of the study’s authors, said: “Aerobic fitness and strength, as well as good balance, have previously been associated with low mortality rates.”

“We were able to show that reduced body flexibility is also associated with a lower chance of survival in middle-aged men and women.”

He added that mobility tends to decline with age, so people may want to incorporate stretching exercises into their routine and doctors may want to assess mobility during physical health exams.

The NHS also points out that improving flexibility can help reduce the risk of injury.

Flexibility, along with aspects such as balance, is considered one of the signs of generally good physical health.

By maintaining the ability to move easily, you can prevent sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is the medical term for a decline in muscle function as we age.

Such muscle weakness can lead to an increased risk of falls, one of the most common reasons for hospitalisation among people over 65 in the UK.

In England alone, over 200,000 admissions in this group due to falls were recorded in 2022/23, with 20,000 fall-related deaths also recorded in the general population during this period.

Such falls can result in direct injuries such as broken bones. The immobility and hospital stays during recovery can also cause those affected to suffer further muscle weakness and health complications.

The current study had a number of limitations.

First, the participants were predominantly wealthy and white, which may limit the implications for other groups.

Another reason is that although the study considered lack of flexibility as an indicator of increased risk of death, the problem itself was not the cause of death and these factors were not identified in the study.

A number of other tests, such as the ability to stand on one leg for ten seconds, have also been shown to be associated with increased protection against death.