The Study of Anthropometric Predictor Parameters of Spine Alignment in Athletes

Authors

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate anatomical alignment of spine in
relation to anthropometric parameters in athletes. 20 healthy athletes (mean age
22.25±1.88 yr, height 182.78±5.49 cm, weight 75.35±3.19 kg and athletic
experience 9.38±3.77 yr) and 20 healthy non-athletes (mean age 22.80±2.01 yr,
height 179.35±6.25 cm, weight 71.10±2.30 kg) randomly participated in this study
voluntarily. Variables including sitting height, spinal length, arm span, biacromial
breadth, biiliac breadth, chest width and depth, acromial distance were measured
by anthropometric instruments and kyphosis and lordosis were measured by spinal
mouse. The results showed a significant difference in kyphosis and lordosis
between athletes and non-athletes (p?0.05). There was also a significant
relationship between sitting length, spinal length, arm span, acromial distance with
Kyphosis and between sitting length and spinal length with lordosis (p?0.05). The
results of regression test showed that arm span and spinal length were the best
predictors of kyphosis and lordosis respectively. It was concluded that those
athletes who due to some anthropometric indices are more susceptible to some
postural abnormalities, especially kyphosis and lordosis, should be recognized and
treated

Keywords