edited by katie barnes. email:
katiebarnes@leisuremedia.com research round-up
Recent research has suggested that a simple ‘sit and reach’ test could be used to measure the risk of heart attacks or strokes
fl exible friend T
he ‘sit and reach’ test has been used by health clubs for many years as part of fitness assessments –
measuring how far you can reach beyond your toes from a sitting position is normally used to define how flexible a person is, especially in the backs of their legs, hips and lower back. In general, habitual exercise includes
flexibility actions (stretching), so an active person may tend to be more flexible than an inactive one. Now, however, a group of researchers from Japan have found that the sit and reach test could also be used as an indicator to how stiff a person’s arteries are*. And because stiff arteries frequently come before cardiovascular disease, the test could become a quick way to determine how at-risk individuals are from heart attacks or strokes. As lead author Kenta Yamamoto says:
“Our fi ndings have potentially important clinical implications because trunk fl exibility can be easily evaluated.”
the results In their study, the researchers focused on 526 healthy, non-smoking people,
aged between 20 and 83 years, who had a BMI of less than 30. They wanted to test the hypothesis that a less flexible body would also show arterial stiffening. The participants were divided into three age groups: young (20–39 years old); middle-aged (40–59 years old); and older (60–83 years old). Every participant’s trunk flexibility was measured by a sit and reach test and, depending on how far they could reach, they were either
categorised as having poor or high flexibility. Arterial stiffness
was then measured by
testing the speed of blood fl ow through the body, recording how long the pulse took to travel between the arm and the ankle, and the neck and the leg.
the results Among the middle-aged and older subjects, it was found that arterial stiffness was worse in the poor flexibility groups compared with the high flexibility groups. This suggests that trunk flexibility is indeed a good indicator of artery stiffness for those over the age of
why should arteries be elastic? B
lood fl ow from the heart pulsates and causes fl uctuations in pressure – high pressure
could lead to a burst blood vessel, while low pressure doesn’t supply a constant amount of the necessary nutrients to the body. The elasticity of an artery is
important because it helps dampen
these pulses and keep the pressure more constant, therefore creating a healthier blood fl ow. Arteries increase in stiffness with
age, which means that as people get older they don’t have such a healthy blood fl ow – and as a result they’re more at risk from cardiovascular disease, strokes and even death.
40. However, there was no such significant relationship among the younger participants.
The researchers also tested
systolic blood pressure (the peak pressure of the heart as it contracts), muscular strength and
cardiorespiratory fitness in some
participants. For those over 40 years of age, it was shown that the arterial stiffness associated with trunk fl exibility was separate from cardiorespiratory fi tness and muscular strength. In addition, systolic blood pressure was higher in poor fl exibility groups in the middle age and older participants. The reason why arterial fl exibility
could be related to fl exibility in the body is unknown, but the study’s fi ndings suggest that stretching exercises could help slow down age-related stiffening of the blood vessels. Yamamoto concludes: “We believe
that fl exibility exercise – such as stretching, yoga and pilates – should be integrated as a new recommendation alongside the known cardiovascular benefi ts of regular exercise.”
* Yamamoto K, et al. Poor trunk fl exibility is associated with arterial stiffening. American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology 297: H1314-H1318, 2009. 46 Read Health Club Management online
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital november/december 2010 © cybertrek 2010
Stretching
activities could help slow down age-related stiffening of blood vessels
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