Do This With Your Toes At Least Once A Year To Test Your Heart Health – Health Digest

The sit-and-reach test measures the flexibility of your back and hamstrings, which can factor into preventing injuries, avoiding falls, and changes in your walking stride and posture, according to Physiopedia. To do the test at home, begin doing some easy stretches with your shoes off. Place a yardstick on the floor and use about a foot of masking tape to mark off at the 15-inch mark. Use a long enough piece of tape because you’ll be using this 15-inch mark as a placement for your heels.

Sit on the floor and anchor your heels at the 15-inch mark on the yardstick. Your feet should be between 10 and 12 inches apart. Keeping your feet where they are, scoot yourself back so your legs are straight in front of you with your feet flexed. The yardstick will be between your legs, with the longer end extending past your feet.

With one hand on top of the other, palms down, and your fingers aligned, reach forward as far as you can and hold for two seconds. Note where the tips of your fingers reach. You don’t need to reach down to the ruler because the sit-and-reach test typically puts the ruler on a foot-high box to make it easier to read the measurement. Repeat this two more times, and record your best reach.