Are You Flexible Enough to Touch Your Toes? Here’s What It Means If You Can’t

Being able to do a forward fold and touch your toes will definitely help you out in a yoga class. But flexibility is also an indicator of your overall health, as it can improve your posture, help reduce injuries, increase range of motion, and improve muscle strength. So, what if you can’t touch your toes? Here’s what it really means.

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If you can’t touch your toes, your overall health may suffer.

“If you don’t have good mobility or flexibility, you’re going to start overcompensating with other muscle groups like your shoulders or lower back,” exercise physiologist Katie Lawton, MEd, tells Cleveland Clinic. “And that’s where it can cause some of those joint issues or hamstring injuries.”

In speaking with The New York Times, Theresa Larson, a physical therapist and expert on movement health, said a toe touch is a good way to assess your overall flexibility.

If you’re able to reach your toes without bending your legs, Larson says it indicates good flexibility in the lower back, hips, and hamstrings. If you can only get as far as your knees, she says it could mean you have tight hamstrings or hips, or pre-existing spinal injuries.

Amanda Sachdeva, a physical therapist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, told HuffPost that not being able to touch your toes may also point towards reduced joint mobility.

“There’s an inherent amount of tension and tightness in the hamstrings that is normal and provides support to the joints, but it becomes [a problem] more so if it’s affecting the joint mechanics and how you’re able to move,” Sachdeva said.

Checking in on whether or not you can touch your toes becomes even more important as we age.

“With age, our muscles and joints tend to stiffen up, but maintaining flexibility can be a key aspect of overall health and wellness,” Andrew White, CPT, a certified personal trainer and the owner of Garage Gym Pro, previously told Best Life.

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The inability to touch your toes may also be physiological.

For some people, the inability to touch their toes might not be a red flag, but a product of how their bodies are built.

Jeffrey Jenkins, a physiologist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, explained to Popular Science that one reason could be “the relative length of your arms and your torso to your legs.”

If someone’s arms are relatively shorter than their legs, “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,” he points out.

How to get started improving your flexibility:

It’s never too late to start improving your flexibility. But for any stretch you’re attempting, the rule of thumb is to only go as far as is comfortable—don’t force it.

To get started with a forward fold, you can begin in a seated position, so the distance to the ground isn’t as far.

You can also use yoga blocks (or stacks of books) to bring the floor to you initially.

In a previous interview with Best Life, Zack Clayton, a professional wrestler and fitness expert behind Prestige Health Systems, suggested “crossing your legs over one another while standing to focus on one leg at a time.”

Finally, remember to breathe, as it “helps improve your flexibility and also enhances your lung capacity and mental focus,” Bayu Prihandito, a life coach, RYT 200 Certified Yoga Teacher, and founder of Life Architekture, told us.