The Study of Anthropometric Predictor Parameters of Spine Alignment in Athletes

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