Why Can’t Everyone Touch Their Toes?

Flexibility is important…

One of the major reasons why someone might not be able to touch their toes comes down to flexibility, specifically of the hamstrings – the group of three muscles that run down the back of the thigh (and which soccer players always seem to pull) – and those in the lower back.

“The shorter distance you can reach, the greater the tightness in the low back and hamstrings,” certified athletic trainer Patricia Cordeiro told Harvard Health Publishing.

The good news is that, if this is the reason why you can’t touch your toes, there might be something you can do about it. Activities such as yoga and stretching routines can help loosen your muscles up – though it’s important not to push yourself to the point of being in pain. Tearing a muscle isn’t going to have you feeling very flexible.

…but it’s not everything

While the ability to touch your toes is often perceived as a measure of fitness or flexibility – and sure, those things are important to have – not being able to touch your toes doesn’t automatically mean you’re horrendously unfit or inflexible. You could be a marathon runner and still not be able to touch your toes. Sometimes, it’s just how your body is built.

“[T]he other big factor is the relative length of your arms and your torso to your legs,” Jeffrey Jenkins, a physiologist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, explained to Popular Science.

“[S]omeone can be really flexible, but if their arms and hands are short relative to their legs, then even at their maximum flexibility they might still not be able to touch their toes, because their arms and fingers aren’t long enough to reach.”

So, the next time you have one of those shudder-inducing 3 am flashbacks to grade school gym class and the Presidential Fitness Test, take comfort in the fact that you might not have failed the sit-and-reach section because you were unfit – you could just be lanky-legged and short-armed.

Plus, being able to touch your toes isn’t the be-all and end-all of flexibility; it can be a helpful indicator, but it’s not necessarily worth getting caught up on. While flexibility can help improve your ability to carry out physical tasks, keep your joints and muscles working nicely, and reduce the risk of injury, there’s more to it than giving your toes a cheeky tap.

As Hospital for Special Surgery physical therapist Amanda Sachdeva explained to HuffPost: “Just simply bending forward and touching your toes, we don’t do that movement that often during the day, so we don’t necessarily need the capacity to do that exact [movement].”

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The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.