# Do your arms bend this way? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2024, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607 "2024-03-30T15:36:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/1 "2024-03-30T15:36:59Z")
I was looking at a movie review and, giving one still shot more than a passing glance, I realize that my arms/hands don’t bend that way. They don’t bend that way now, I doubt they ever bent that way in my more flexible youth, and it is so far from a pose I can perform that I’m actually having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. [![](https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/franklyn-2-1200x675.jpg) ](https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/franklyn-2-1200x675.jpg) > **[The 2000s Dark R-Rated Sci-Fi Fantasy Mystery Epic No One Even Remembers,...](https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/2000s-dark-mystery-epic-forgotten.html)** > > You likely never heard or forgot about this 2010 movie blending sci-fi, fantasy, and mystery into an epic story. _Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/1))_ (Edited to add poll, hope it works.) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/2 "2024-03-30T15:38:23Z")
Yes, I can do it. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/3 "2024-03-30T15:43:36Z")
I can do it also. I thought this thread was going to be about people whose elbows bend further back than they ought. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/4 "2024-03-30T15:47:43Z")
I’m not very flexible and I have no problem bending that way. I have to wonder if the OP is trying to fold his hands down forward (which I do find impossible to do) instead of flipping them up backwards. > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I thought this thread was going to be about people whose elbows bend further back than they ought. Me too. My elbows don’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/5 "2024-03-30T15:51:10Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > I have to wonder if the OP is trying to fold his hands down forward (which I do find impossible to do) instead of flipping them up backwards. Flipping them backwards the deepest I can rotate results in my pinky fingernails touching my eye orbit. To twist my hands around further is literally impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/6 "2024-03-30T15:57:30Z")
That pose doesn’t necessarily use muscular movements to pose the hands - if you rotate them as far as they will go, then hook your fingers under your chin as you continue moving your arms back and upward, the wrist will rotate beyond the point that muscles will normally pull it. Or at least it used to work that way. I can only do it with one hand now - the other one doesn’t want to play ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/7 "2024-03-30T16:12:09Z")
My arms/wrists/hands don’t bend that way, but some people’s do. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/8 "2024-03-30T17:00:26Z")
I can still do it, but my shoulders aren’t happy about it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/9 "2024-03-30T17:01:15Z")
I can do it, with effort, but it’s harder to do now than it was when I was younger. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/10 "2024-03-30T17:22:59Z")
I can do that basic pose, though when I do it my elbows are still pointing a little forwards, rather than the straight line side to side that actress appears to be doing. I probably could have in my younger days, when I was more flexible, though. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/11 "2024-03-30T22:55:38Z")
My arms will do that, but my wrists don’t want to. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/12 "2024-03-30T23:17:11Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I thought this thread was going to be about people whose elbows bend further back than they ought. I assumed it was a Twin Peaks reference. [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video_thumb/GFvfFnnXcAAylFT.jpg) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video_thumb/GFvfFnnXcAAylFT.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/13 "2024-03-30T23:19:28Z")
I can’t do it, but it feels like with gradual stretching I might be able to; or that I might have been able to do it as a child but I had no reason to keep it up with the required amount of stretching. It’s kind of like being able to squat without raising your heels. Most people can do this as children, but they don’t do it on a regular basis and so their tendons (or whatever it is) tighten up so that they can’t do it as adults. But in locations where people still squat to poop instead of sitting on a toilet, pretty much everyone can do it. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/14 "2024-03-30T23:34:33Z")
I recall David Bowie doing that move in a concert video while performing Scary Monsters. It was easier for me to replicate the movement 40 years ago. And now I feel sad that its been 40 years since I’ve done many such silly things. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/15 "2024-03-31T00:27:56Z")
I can do it. Years of weight lifting and just plain years make it more difficult. I used to be able to do it easily. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/16 "2024-03-31T00:48:08Z")
Husband can’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![Jebbilene](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jebbilene/32/3414_2.png) [@Jebbilene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jebbilene)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/17 "2024-03-31T01:31:29Z")
I can do it but I need to brace my fingers against the sides of my face or else they flip back. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/18 "2024-03-31T02:03:29Z")
No [junior birdmen](https://www.pinterest.cl/pin/79305643415076614/) in this crowd? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/19 "2024-03-31T02:11:33Z")
Ahhh that’s a good stretch. I’ve been crocheting for a couple of hours and that was just exactly the stretch my hands and wrists needed. Easy to do, but I could feel it especially in the middle-pinky fingers. I’ll have to do that more often. But I hope I remember not to do it in public. LOL! ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607/20 "2024-03-31T13:58:37Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > No [junior birdmen](https://www.pinterest.cl/pin/79305643415076614/) in this crowd? 🤣 Had to take off my glasses to do it correctly, but otherwise, no problem. Hubby can do it easily as well. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-arms-bend-this-way/999607.md?page=2)