lexibility has been defined as the range of motion of muscle and connective tissues at a joint or group of joints. In contrast to other, more general or systemic fitness components, flexibility is highly specific to each of the joints of the body. For this reason, although flexibility has been included in national fitness test batteries, linking it to one or more health outcomes is difficult, and few data support such an association. Future efforts to study the relationship of flexibility to health will require a multivariate approach.
The principal health outcomes hypothesized to be associated with flexibility are prevention of and relief from low-back pain, prevention of musculoskeletal injury, and improved posture. These associations have been studied most frequently in adults, and the strength of any associations for specific flexibility tests in youth is minimal. Various reasons may explain the difficulty of establishing a link between flexibility and health. First, in contrast with other fitness components, no large-scale studies have been specifically designed to assess the relationship between flexibility and health. Second, flexibility may be associated with health in combination with other musculoskeletal variables. Finally, studies addressing flexibility have varied substantially in the tests used, the study designs, and the characteristics of participants (e.g., age, gender, weight).
Although the evidence is not yet clear, flexibility in youth may in fact be linked to various health outcomes, such as back pain, injury prevention, and posture, and appropriate studies are needed to explore such associations. The limitations described above led the committee not to recommend a flexibility test for a national youth fitness survey. Instead, the committee recommends conducting further research on this fitness component, as well as considering the use of flexibility tests in schools and other educational settings for educational purposes.
Until the relationship to health is confirmed and national normative data and health data are collected for youth, the comparatively relative position method should be used for setting cut-points (cutoff scores) for performance on flexibility tests. With this method, percentiles established for other fitness measures are used to establish interim cut-points for the measure of interest. For example, interim cut-points corresponding to the 20th percentile should be used for flexibility tests, analogous to the cut-points for cardiorespiratory endurance tests.
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lexibility has been defined as the range of motion of muscle and connective tissues at a joint or group of joints. In contrast to other, more general or systemic fitness components, flexibility is highly specific to each of the joints of the body. For this reason, although flexibility has been included in national fitness test batteries, linking it to one or more health outcomes is difficult, and few data support such an association. Future efforts to study the relationship of flexibility to health will require a multivariate approach.
The principal health outcomes hypothesized to be associated with flexibility are prevention of and relief from low-back pain, prevention of musculoskeletal injury, and improved posture. These associations have been studied most frequently in adults, and the strength of any associations for specific flexibility tests in youth is minimal. Various reasons may explain the difficulty of establishing a link between flexibility and health. First, in contrast with other fitness components, no large-scale studies have been specifically designed to assess the relationship between flexibility and health. Second, flexibility may be associated with health in combination with other musculoskeletal variables. Finally, studies addressing flexibility have varied substantially in the tests used, the study designs, and the characteristics of participants (e.g., age, gender, weight).
Although the evidence is not yet clear, flexibility in youth may in fact be linked to various health outcomes, such as back pain, injury prevention, and posture, and appropriate studies are needed to explore such associations. The limitations described above led the committee not to recommend a flexibility test for a national youth fitness survey. Instead, the committee recommends conducting further research on this fitness component, as well as considering the use of flexibility tests in schools and other educational settings for educational purposes.
Until the relationship to health is confirmed and national normative data and health data are collected for youth, the comparatively relative position method should be used for setting cut-points (cutoff scores) for performance on flexibility tests. With this method, percentiles established for other fitness measures are used to establish interim cut-points for the measure of interest. For example, interim cut-points corresponding to the 20th percentile should be used for flexibility tests, analogous to the cut-points for cardiorespiratory endurance tests.