How Stiff Are Your Arteries? Try This Simple Test

The flexibility of arteries is regarded as an indication of how much atherosclerosis they possess.  Japanese researchers have studied the theory that a less flexible body would have more arterial stiffening.  They published their findings in the American Journal of Physiology.

The subjects were 526 healthy, non-smoking adults, aged between 20 and 83; their body mass index had to be less than 30 – i.e. they could be overweight but not obese.  The participants were divided into 3 age groups: young (20-39); middle aged (40-59); and older (60-83).  Body flexibility was assessed by a sit-and-stretch test.  They had to sit on the floor with their back against the wall and their legs straight.  Then they had to slowly bend at the waist and reach as far forward as possible.  Based on the distance achieved, the subjects were classified as having either poor- or high-flexibility.

Arterial stiffness was assessed by measuring the speed of blood flow by measuring how long it took for the pulse to travel between the arm (brachial artery) and the ankle (posterior tibial artery).  The participants also had their blood pressure, aortic pressure, and fitness (cardio-respiratory, muscular, and endurance) measured.

In the middle-aged and older groups, pulse wave speed was significantly higher in the poor-flexibility than in the high-flexibility class.  The systolic blood pressure was also higher in poor-flexibility groups than in the high-flexibility groups.  In the young age group, there was no difference in pulse wave speed based on flexibility.

Readers may find it a bit of a stretch to relate flexibility in muscles and joints to flexibility in arteries (pun noted).  Of course, stiffness of both increase with age, but that may not be enough to explain the findings of the study.  One of the researchers suggests that “improving flexibility induced by stretching exercise may be capable of modifying age-related arterial stiffening in middle-aged and older adults”. Alternatively, rather than a cause-and-effect linkage, there may be different amounts of collagen and elastin available in different individuals – these are body chemicals that are required for flexibility of tissues.  Whatever the mechanism or mechanisms involved, boomers efforts to improve the flexibility of their muscles and torso will pay off in other ways, so I encourage them wholeheartedly.