Somatic characteristic, morphological asymmetry and postural stability of youth male canoeists compared to control. A cross-sectional study

Magdalena Krzykała; Krzysztof Karpowicz; Małgorzata Karpowicz; Sylwia Bartkowiak; Anna Demuth; Urszula Czerniak; Jarosław Janowski

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0285997

Somatic characteristic, morphological asymmetry and postural stability of youth male canoeists compared to control. A cross-sectional study

PLoS One. 2023 May 22;18(5):e0285997. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285997. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Magdalena Krzykała¹, Krzysztof Karpowicz², Małgorzata Karpowicz³, Sylwia Bartkowiak², Anna Demuth⁴, Urszula Czerniak⁴, Jarosław Janowski²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Methodology of Recreation, Poznan University of Physical Education, Poznań, Poland.
² Department of Theory of Sports, Poznan University of Physical Education, Poznań, Poland.
³ Department of Team Sports Games, Poznan University of Physical Education, Poznań, Poland.
⁴ Department of Anthropology and Biometry, Poznan University of Physical Education, Poznań, Poland.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the relationships between selected morphological characteristics and the level of body composition asymmetry with postural stability among canoeists and a control group.

Methods: The sample consisted of 43 males (21 canoeists 21.8±3.29 years and 22 university students 21.7±1.32 years). Measurements included body height and weight. Segmental body composition analysis was assessed using the bioelectrical impedance by determining: fat mass (FM, kg, %), fat-free mass (FFM, kg) and predicted muscle mass (PMM, kg). Postural stability was tested using the BIODEX Balance System. Anterior-posterior stability index (APSI), medial-lateral stability index (MLSI) and overall stability index (OSI) were calculated.

Results: Our findings suggest that the canoeists had statistically lower level of fatty tissue compared to controls. There was a statistically important difference between groups in lower limb FM (% and kg). In both groups morphological asymmetry was observed, but in most cases-in athletes. Asymmetries between right and left arms appeared in all parameters, while asymmetries between right and left legs were noted in all parameters except FM (kg). There were relationships between stature and body weight with postural stability in canoeists. Canoeists demonstrated better balance than controls, particularly in the APSI. For all stability indices, significant differences were observed between right and left legs across all participants.

Conclusions: Athletes, with larger asymmetries or poorer balance, require more attention to improve performance and reduce the risk of overload injury. Future studies needed to develop sport-specific level of morphofunctional asymmetry which would be optimal for sport results and health as well.

Copyright: © 2023 Krzykała et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Athletes
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Leg
Male
Postural Balance* / physiology
Sports*

Grants and funding

Founding The research was financed as part of the program of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education called “The Development of Academic Sports”, project number N RSA4 04854, entitled “Criteria for the selection of athletes for multi-person settlements in water sports in a multifactorial approach”. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.