Flexibility Lowers Arthritis Risk in Older Women
(NY, Reuters Health, 4/25/03)

Based on several years worth of x-rays and bone density measurements for 716 women over the age of 53, Tim Spector, a professor of rheumatology at St. Thomas Hospital in London, and colleagues, report that women with super- flexible joints are less likely to develop arthritis than their peers. These British researchers found a significant correlation between flexibility and decreased incidence of arthritis, but further research is necessary to distinguish whether the lack of arthritis is due to the subjects' being (1) genetically both flexible and resistant to arthritis, (2) more active because they are genetically flexible, or (3) flexible because they are active. The preliminary conclusion is that maintaining flexibility may help prevent arthritis.