The Sagittal Integral Morphotype in Male and Female Rowers

Jose Ramón Alvero-Cruz, Fernando Santonja-Medina, Jose Manuel Sanz-Mengibar and Pilar Sainz de Baranda
Additional contact information
Jose Ramón Alvero-Cruz: Andalucía Tech, Faculty of Medicine, Campus de Teatinos, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
Fernando Santonja-Medina: Sports and Musculoskeletal System Research Group (RAQUIS), University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Jose Manuel Sanz-Mengibar: Sports and Musculoskeletal System Research Group (RAQUIS), University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Pilar Sainz de Baranda: Sports and Musculoskeletal System Research Group (RAQUIS), University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-17

Abstract: The goal of this study was to describe the integrated spinal assessment of the sagittal morphotype in rowers to determine whether the intense practice of rowing causes a modification of the sagittal curvatures of the spine, its relationship with the rowing technique, and training background. The second goal was to analyse how the dorsal and lumbar curves behave in the three phases of the rowing gesture, and to determine which phases can be detrimental to the correct development of the spine during growth. We analysed the spine curvatures in the sagittal plane of 29 females and 82 males, which were measured with an inclinometer in standing, slump sitting, maximal trunk flexion and during rowing performance. The average value of thoracic kyphosis in the rowers was 30° (mean, 30 + 8.27°). Thoracic hyperkyphosis was found in only two rowers (1.8%). Lumbar lordosis was within normal range in 84.1% of the males (mean, 27 + 9.57°) and 75.9% of female rowers (mean, 33°). Functional thoracic hyperkyphosis was observed in 57.4% of the males and 17.1% of the females. Functional lumbar hyperkyphosis was observed in 28 of the 69 males (40.5%) and five of 22 females (17.2%). Rowing seems to provide adequate spine alignment in the sagittal plane on standing. The integrated spinal assessment of the sagittal morphotype showed that half or our rowers presented with functional thoracic hyperkyphosis, and 43.2% presented with functional lumbar hyperkyphosis. Spine behaviour during the rowing technique shows that the thoracic kyphosis (98.2%) and lumbar spine (91%) perform within normative ranges and could explain the adequate positioning of the spine in the sagittal plane on standing. Years of rowing training tend to reduce thoracic kyphosis in males.

Keywords: anatomy; spine; thoracic spine; low back; lumbar spine; biomechanics; rowing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/12930/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/12930/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:12930-:d:697547

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().