Comparative upper-quarter posture analysis of female adolescent freestyle swimmers and non-swimmers

ABSTRACT

Repetitive upper-quarter limb movements imposed by freestyle swimming may lead to muscle length and tension changes, predisposing adolescent swimmers to postural malalignment. The study aimed to quantify the static upper-quarter postural alignment of competitive female adolescent freestyle swimmers, and compare their results to non-swimming peers and angles of spinal sagittal posture available in the literature. A cross-sectional study design was employed. The evaluation group (EVAL) consisted of 35 competitive swimmers (15 ± 3 y; 166.5 ± 9.9 cm; 65.5 ± 7.7 kg) and the control group (CON) of 36 peers (15 ± 3 y; 164.2 ± 6.7 cm; 62.1 ± 9.1 kg). Spinal sagittal posture was measured by photographic posture analysis. Median ± interquartile range and inter-group differences were calculated. Significant differences (p = 0.00) between groups for all variables, with a moderate – large effect, were observed. EVAL demonstrated restricted median scores for head-tilt angle (−8.7°), cervical angle (−13.3°) and shoulder protraction – retraction angle (−24°), and a greater score for thoracic angle (+7.4°), when compared to CON. EVAL and CON deviated from proposed criterion scores for cervical and thoracic angles, with EVAL also deviating from head-tilt angle and shoulder protraction – retraction angle criteria. In this group of adolescent participants, postural malalignment may have been exacerbated by years of freestyle swim training.

Highlights

• Significant differences with medium to large effect sizes were noted in the angles of spinal sagittal posture between the competitive female adolescent freestyle swimmers and their non-swimming peers.

• Competitive female adolescent freestyle swimmers appeared to be more vulnerable to postural features in the upper quarter that were not within the desirable angles of spinal sagittal posture.

• The inherent nature of competitive freestyle swimming and the natural consequence of long-term training may explain the moderate to large effect sizes observed.

KEYWORDS:

• sagittal spinal posture
• adolescent
• freestyle swimming
• photographic posture analysis

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the input received from Mr James Clark, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Department of Physiology, Division of Biokinetics and Sport Science, University of Pretoria.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.