Have you ever envied someone’s ability to perform yoga moves seemingly without effort? Or marvelled at the amazing feats of flexibility performed by dancers and gymnasts? While these examples are impressive, having a certain degree of flexibility can make even everyday activities easier to perform, like turning a doorknob or bending over to tie your shoes.

How physically flexible or inflexible you are is determined by a mix of genetic and environmental influences. If you're curious about the genetic influences on your flexibility, an AncestryDNA^® + Traits test can reveal if you have the genetic markers associated with this movement-related trait.

How Does Flexibility Impact Your Movement Ability?

In general, flexibility encompasses the ability to move your joints without restriction or pain. But you have two types of flexibility: static and dynamic. Some people are naturally more flexible than others—static, dynamic, or both.

• Static flexibility determines the limits of how mobile a joint may be.
• Dynamic flexibility refers to how stiff or flexible a joint is during a motion.

While physical flexibility can connect to general athletic ability, flexibility can also help your body move in day-to-day life, reduce your chance for injury, and improve your balance and physical agility.

Most people can improve their ability with simple routines at home and regular flexibility exercises.

• Using a foam roller can help improve flexibility and increase circulation to the muscles.
• Implementing dynamic stretching exercises into your daily routine can relieve areas that are particularly tight.
• Practising yoga promotes flexibility and balance.
• Performing static stretches after completing a workout can reduce injury.

For all of these strategies, consistency is key.

How Genetics Influence Flexibility

Curious about how genes influence flexibility, AncestryDNA^® scientists asked over 230,000 people, "How would you rate your flexibility?" thinking about their range of motion and how easily their muscles stretched. By comparing their answers to their DNA, Ancestry^® scientists identified over 516 DNA markers related to flexibility.

Using a polygenic risk score calculation, which takes into consideration all 516 markers, AncestryDNA scientists can predict whether someone is more or less likely to be flexible. The AncestryDNA team determined flexibility is mostly environmental, yet DNA differences can explain about 7% of the variation between people in their limberness. But practising movement, stretching, and fitness level play a much bigger role.

While the Ancestry analysis looked at many genes across the genome, other studies have explored specific flexibility-related genes in detail. One gene, COL5A1, influences your body's ability to create type V collagen, a protein necessary for strengthening bones, muscles, skin, and tendons. Certain versions of this gene can cause hypermobility of the joints.

What Else Do Scientists Say About Flexibility?

All sorts of factors can influence your flexibility. For example, one study from Germany revealed that daily stretch training could improve flexibility. However, the duration of the stretch training had a significant impact on results. Those who spent an hour per day doing stretch training saw more improvements in flexibility than those who trained 10 or 30 minutes.

Age can also impact how flexible you are. As people get older, many biological mechanisms become less efficient, leading to reduced performance. One study of people in their nineties found that a reduction in flexibility is negatively associated with health-related quality of life. As such, there are significant scientific efforts to find the best method of flexibility training for older individuals. One study of Chinese women 60 or older revealed that even mild or moderate exercise can boost flexibility. The women in the study participated in exercise 3 days per week, consisting of 20-45 minutes of walking and 20-45 minutes of Tai Chi.

Interesting Facts About Flexibility

Though pregnancy can put a strain on the body and prevent movement as the baby grows, some parts (such as the pelvic and abdominal muscles) must become more flexible to accommodate the growing process. This is in part thanks to the hormone relaxin. This hormone, closely tied to the female reproductive system, is necessary for preparing the uterine lining for implantation. During pregnancy, relaxin levels remain high to help prevent contractions, make the abdominal muscles more flexible, and prepare the pelvis and cervix to soften and expand before childbirth.

After birth, babies are extremely flexible. In part, this is because newborns have nearly 100 more bones than adults. During infancy and childhood, those bones fuse and harden. The increased level of flexibility in infants is necessary for them to fit in the womb and to make it through the pelvis at birth. As those bones harden, flexibility declines.

Interested in how your genetics and flexibility intertwine? Take an AncestryDNA^® + Traits test to discover whether you have the DNA markers associated with flexibility that might give you a natural boost of limberness. If you've already taken a test, you can now review your flexibility results with an Ancestry^® membership.

 

References

Bai, Xiaorong, Wensheng Xiao, et al. "12-week concurrent brisk walking and Taijiquan (Tai Chi) improve balance, flexibility, and muscular strength of Chinese older women." PLOS ONE. October 26, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293483.

"COL5A1 gene." Medline Plus. Accessed July 23, 2024. https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/gene/col5a1/.

Fabre, Jennifer M., Robert H. Wood, et al. "Age-related Deterioration in Flexibility is Associated with Health-related Quality of Life in Nonagenarians." Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy. April 2007. https://journals.lww.com/jgpt/abstract/2007/04000/age_related_deterioration_in_flexibility_is.4.aspx.

"Flexibility." UC Davis Sports Medicine. Accessed July 23, 2024. https://health.ucdavis.edu/sports-medicine/resources/flexibility.

Gleim, Gilbert W. and Malachy P. McHugh. "Flexibility and Its Effects on Sports Injury and Performance." Sports Medicine. October 9, 2012. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-199724050-00001.

"How Many Bones Do Babies Have?" Cleveland Clinic. February 8, 2024. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-many-bones-does-a-baby-have.

"Relaxin." Cleveland Clinic. Accessed July 23, 2024. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/24305-relaxin.

Stathokostas, Liza, Robert M. D. Little, et al. "Flexibility Training and Functional Ability in Older Adults: A Systematic Review." Journal of Aging Research. November 8, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/306818.

"Stretching: Focus on flexibility." Mayo Clinic. November 18, 2023. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/stretching/art-20047931.

Warneke, Konstantin, Klaus Wirth, et al. "Improvements in Flexibility Depend on Stretching Duration." International Journal of Exercise Science. January 1, 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10124737/.