CHECK IF YOUR JOINTS ARE TOO STIFF FOR SOMEONE OF YOUR AGE

FLEXIBILITY

WE BECOME less flexible with age, but the degree to which we lose flexibility can be an indicator of failing joint, muscle and tissue health.

Dawn Skelton, a professor of ageing and health, explains: ‘It really is a case of use it or lose it. Flexibility is something we should all be working on daily. Regularity is key.’

A good range of movement ensures blood supply to the joints

and it stops inactive muscles shortening or lengthening, which can pull the spine and joints out of place. Check your upper body flexibility with this test.

TEST: The ‘back scratch’

SHOULDER flexibility is important for everyday tasks such as brushing our hair. Professor Skelton adds: ‘We also all need good shoulder function to lift ourselves out of the bath, or to push ourselves up off a bed in later life. And if you trip, you need to be able to reach out and grab something — shoulder flexibility is often the key difference between a trip becoming a fall.’

Place one hand behind your head and back over the shoulder and reach as far as possible down the middle of your back, your palm touching your body and the fingers directed downwards. Place the other arm behind your back, palm facing outwards and fingers upward and reach up, attempting to touch or overlap the middle fingers of both hands.

Ask someone to guide your hands so they’re aligned, and measure the distance between the tips of the middle fingers. A minus (-) score means you couldn’t touch the fingers of both hands; a plus (+) score means your hands overlapped. Scores to aim for (From Professor Skelton’s Later Life Training clinic): 50s: -10cm to 1cm, men; -5cm to 7cm, women. 60s: -17cm to -2cm, men; -10cm to 5cm, women. 70s: -20cm to -5cm, men; -12cm to 2cm, women. 80s: -25cm to -7cm, men; -17cm to -2cm, women.