Does arterial elasticity have anything to do with flexibility?

Think of your arteries as tubes in your heart, allowing blood flow.
Now, some peoples tubes are very brittle and rigid. Those are unhealthy.
People with tubes that stretch, yet return to their size are very healthy.
It’s like your lungs ability to stretch out as you take a deep breath, then another without letting the first out.

@filmfann. I know. I mean does it cause more flexibity like being able to do a split or bend over and touch the ground with your hands with your legs straight. Does it help the muscles stretch?

No, it helps the heart arteries expand and retract. Very important.

If it helps the heart, why not other muscles?

Not that I know of.

No—there’s no connection between arterial elasticity and musculo-skeletal flexibility.

Arterial elasticity isn’t something that’s tested for, but loss of elasticity that occurs with aging—from atherosclerosis, calcification, other degenerative conditoins—shows up in various forms of cardiovascular disease (heart attack, heart failure, circulatory problems, etc).

For example contraction of the heart normally ejects blood into an elastic aorta, which stretches like a balloon to some extent to accommodate the momentarily increased flow. (Look up “windkessel.”) Patients with low-compliance “lead-pipe” aortas that are incapable of this kind of stretching to moderate the blood pressure may show very high systolic blood pressures with corresponding low diastolics.