People Ask Me This All the Time
It comes up at parties, in schoolyards, sometimes in actual physical therapy offices. The question is whether it's possible to lick your own elbow, and the answer isn't as simple as yes or no. I remember a client came to me in 2014 complaining about shoulder mobility after a rotator cuff surgery. We were testing range of motion, and out of boredom she tried to lick her elbow. She actually managed it. Her anterior shoulder capsule had enough flexibility post-surgery rehab that the geometric angles lined up differently than the average person. That was surprising. Most people cannot do this, but it is not universally impossible.
Can You Lick Your Own Elbow
The mechanics are straightforward anatomy. To reach your tongue to your elbow, you need three things working together: shoulder flexion past about 120 degrees, sufficient cervical spine extension, and a mouth-to-elbow distance that doesn't exceed your tongue length. The average adult tongue is roughly 7.6 centimeters from tip to the back of the throat. Your elbow is typically further away than that when your arm is raised. Most people fail because their shoulders stop well short of the required angle, not because their tongues are too short. If you can touch your fingertips to the opposite shoulder, you likely have the shoulder flexion necessary. Test that first before giving up. There is a population subset that can do this easily. It tends to run in families. I have seen multiple siblings in the same household who could all do it, while their parents and cousins could not. It is largely inherited joint hypermobility, the kind measured by the Beighton scale. People with higher scores on that scale routinely achieve this without thinking about it.
How to Actually Try It
Start with proper positioning. Bend your elbow so your forearm is vertical and your hand is pointing upward, near your ear level. Do not shrug your shoulder up toward your ear. Keep the shoulder blade down and back. Most people fail because they compensate with scapular elevation, which shortens the reach. Then extend your neck forward and down. You need cervical flexion, not extension. Tuck your chin slightly toward your chest while reaching. The combination of shoulder flexion and neck tuck is what actually closes the gap. Try it slowly. Force it and you will strain something. I had a guy try this aggressively once and developed a mild cervical strain because he cranked his neck. Take your time. Hold the position for a few seconds before giving up.
If you have shoulder impingement or any history of rotator cuff issues, do not force this. The extreme flexion angle can pinch structures in the shoulder. I would recommend against it entirely in that case.
Why Some People Just Can't
Structural limitations matter more than most people realize. If your humerus has a particular shape, or if your glenoid fossa has limited depth, your shoulder simply will not reach the required angle. This is bone-on-bone stopping, not muscle tightness. No amount of stretching will change your skeletal structure. Come to think of it, I worked with a woman in 2019 who spent months trying to learn this. She could touch her shoulder with her fingers but never got close to licking her elbow. Turns out she had subtle osteoarthritis in both shoulders that was limiting her flexion to about 100 degrees instead of the 130 or so needed. She accepted it and moved on. Some bodies just do not allow it.
What It Actually Means
Being able to lick your elbow does not indicate superior flexibility overall. It indicates a very specific combination of shoulder and neck range that happens independently of general flexibility. A gymnast might be extremely flexible everywhere and still not be able to do it if their shoulder geometry does not cooperate. Conversely, someone with generalized joint hypermobility might do it without being particularly athletic or flexible in any other measurable way. The challenge persists because it sounds impossible until someone does it, then it seems trivial. That gap between perception and reality is what keeps the question alive online and in person. It is a harmless trivia test with a real anatomical answer behind it.
