Is touching toes a sign of good health?

Back in school I always remember feeling a little bemused by the demand to try and touch my toes during gym class. After a few minutes of jumping up and down on the spot followed by star-jumps the gym teacher would get us all to touch our toes. I was never the most flexible in my class and I couldn't get anywhere near my toes whilst others in the class were almost resting their forehead on the floor.

Fast forward 20 years I started learning about flexibility. It was then that I realised that touching ones toes per se isn't necessarily a sign of good health. Being flexible is, having mobile joints is, but it's all relative. In other words, we all have our genetic limitations, some of us have lax ligaments, some of have tight ligaments and whilst for me touching my toes was never going to be possible, achieving an extra few millimetres to my stretch was a big achievement.

This is what we all should be aiming for. Flexibility should never be something that you compare yourself to others. Try and achieve that extra little stretch, a little bit more flexibility, that slightly larger range, with time it will come and the end result, of feeling less pain, less stiff and more flexible, that's what your aiming for.