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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder why I can't touch my toes?

69 replies

Leafylow · 30/04/2019 21:56

I have never been able to, even as a child. I could flip straight back into a crab and all manner of other stretches, but I could never touch my toes. I still can't at 30.

I've been doing Pilates and yoga since Christmas, and though I've never been very sporty I've always tried to do some exercise so I'm not hugely unfit or out of shape, but I cannot get my fingers even to my ankles. Other people who do no exercise or stretches can do it easily. Is it something that some people just physically can't do? And if so, why? Or do I need to just keep trying?

OP posts:

VanessaShanessaJenkins · 30/04/2019 22:00

You may find you are bending at the waist and not the hips. Sounds mad I know but when doing a hip hinge my pilates instructor pointed this out to me and had to help me figure out how to bend at the hips instead.

Only the other day at work someone said about bending and not touching toes and I showed them how to bend at the hips instead of the waist and then they could!

Give it a try

AndOutComeTheBoobs · 30/04/2019 22:00

Scoliosis?
Short leg muscles?

Arpafeelie · 30/04/2019 22:01

My DS can stick his toes into his ears but he can't touch his toes. His physiotherapist says that some of his muscles are tight to compensate for a wobble in his hips. I can't remember which muscles.

Swissgemma · 30/04/2019 22:01

I can’t. Never have. Found out as an adult I had an extra vertebrae!

TroysMammy · 30/04/2019 22:01

I'm 51 and have never been able to do this life skill.

Arpafeelie · 30/04/2019 22:02

(DS has mild Ehler Danlos)

Lovelylugs · 30/04/2019 22:03

Perhaps your back is shorter proportionally to your legs. I have noticed some people have their height in their back but some have it in their legs.

SallyWD · 30/04/2019 22:04

I'm in my 40s and have never been able to.

LakieLady · 30/04/2019 22:04

I've never been able to do this either!

My mother said she couldn't touch her toes, I always assumed it was inherited.

SerenDippitty · 30/04/2019 22:05

I’ve never been able to do it. Couldn’t even after doing yoga for a couple of years.

EskeewdBeef · 30/04/2019 22:07

I'm remarkably inflexible and decrepit in most ways but I can easily touch my toes and could even when I was 9 months pregnant. My much more athletic husband can't even get close, and neither can our sporty teen. I think they have short or tight something-or-others in the backs of their legs because they both agree that something there is just stopping the stretch.

Lllot5 · 30/04/2019 22:08

Well not showing off or anything but I can put my hands flat on the floor. About all I can do mind.

HappyMisfit · 30/04/2019 22:09

Fold at the hips and make sure you are warm.

Often hanging there and breathing into the stretch can help. Soften the knees very slightly, don’t lock the knees.

SerenDippitty · 30/04/2019 22:10

Perhaps your back is shorter proportionally to your legs. I have noticed some people have their height in their back but some have it in their legs.

Yes this is me. I have short arms too - coat and jacket sleeves are usually over my knuckles.

lisasimpsonssaxophone · 30/04/2019 22:10

I’m slightly overweight and not particularly flexible but I’ve always been able to touch my toes, then I see very slim bendy women in my gym who can’t... I think it must be total pot luck as to whether you’re built in such a way as to be able to it it!

I’m tall but I think my legs are quite short and my height is in my torso, so I reckon that helps. If you can’t do it maybe you’ve just got lovely long legs!

mrwalkensir · 30/04/2019 22:12

friend has taught pilates for decades and can't touch her toes - in terrifyingly good shape. Just genetically short hamstrings

Sculpin · 30/04/2019 22:12

I'm not very fit but I can lay my hands flat on the floor without bending my knees. I think it's because I have a long body and proportionally shorter legs.

countdowntonap · 30/04/2019 22:13

I agree with PP - bend at you hips and tilt your pelvis.

Teaonthebedsheets · 30/04/2019 22:15

VanessaShanessaJenkins

Blimey. Just touched my toes for the first time ever!

SmarmyMrMime · 30/04/2019 22:19

I can only do it if I'm very warmed up, like after a long run. I have a very tight lumbar spine and hamstrings, and my glutes don't fire well. I struggled with SPD in both pregnancies and my pelvis is prone to twisting.

Even doing various styles of dance through my teenage years, I never really loosened up. I've done a lot of yoga too.

redbedheadd · 30/04/2019 22:43

Isn't it just a case of tight hamstrings? It will take more than a couple months of yoga --- unfortunately it might be a couple of years... but stick at it and you will feel a difference

MitziTheTabbyIsMyOverlord · 30/04/2019 22:50

Well, I've got long legs and a much shorter body, and I can.

Never could as a child (skinny back then). But now I exercise regularly and can do it easily.

For me it was practice. At first I couldn't reach further than mid-calf, but I kept trying and trying, and now I can touch the floor.

allnewredfairy · 30/04/2019 22:50

Short arms? Even as a fat bird I have been able to touch the floor with flat palms. I must be a gorilla

Magicmonster · 30/04/2019 22:55

I am definitely one of those bending at the waist rather than hips. I’m in awe of how some other women can bend so much at the hips! So tell me...how do I learn to bend at the hips? ...

Marvellow · 30/04/2019 22:57

I never have either, due to my lovely long legs

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