Contortion is a performance art, and one that you’ll usually see in the circus or as a street performance.  It makes use of extreme flexibility. The most important part of the body in contortion is the spine as most contortionists are either front- or back-benders. It’s pretty rare for someone to be able to do both since most peoples’ spines are flexible is one direction more so than the other. There’s also enterology (when a contortionist fits their body into a confined space) and dislocation (typically, a contortionist will dislocate their shoulder).

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Contortionists can train for hours every day, for years, to be as flexible (and strong) as they are. Contortion can improve your pain threshold, range of motion, endurance, strength, and obviously, flexibility.

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Contortion takes a lot of practice and patience. If you’re serious enough, you could get into contortion. It’s a fun hobby and it’s fun to surprise people with it.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.