Abstract
PURPOSE: To compare the anthropometric characteristics of high school female gymnasts to a national representative sample of adolescent females (Cycle II of the Health Examination Survey by the Department of Health and Human Services). METHODS: One hundred two high school female gymnasts (mean age ± SD = 15.75 ± 1.15 yr) volunteered for this study. The subjects were assessed for height, body weight, five circumferences (forearm, upper arm, calf, hip, and waist), and six diameters (biacromial, biiliac, bitrochanteric, elbow, knee, and wrist) using standard procedures. The national sample consisted of 526 females with an average of age of 15.75 yr. RESULTS: There were significant (p < 0.05) differences between the gymnasts and the national sample (G = gymnasts, N = national sample) for body weight (G = 54.1 ± 6.5 kg; N = 57.4 ± 0.7 kg), forearm circumference (G = 22.4 ± 1.4 cm; N = 23.4 ± 2.0 cm), upper arm circumference (G = 23.6 ± 1.9 cm; N = 26.2 ± 3.4 cm), calf circumference (G = 32.7 ± 2.0 cm; N = 34.7 ± 3.2 cm), hip circumference (G = 88.3 ± 5.7 cm; N = 93.4 ± 7.8 cm), biacromial diameter (G = 32.5 ± 3.1 cm; N = 35.4 ± 1.6 cm), biiliac diameter (G = 26.4 ± 2.2 cm; N = 25.6 ± 2.4 cm), elbow diameter (G = 6.0 ± 0.5 cm; N = 6.2 ± 0.4 cm), knee diameter (G = 9.1 ± 0.8 cm; N = 8.9 ± 0.6 cm), and wrist diameter (G = 5.1 ± 0.3 cm; N = 5.0 ± 0.3 cm). The gymnasts and the national sample were the same height and there were no mean differences (p > 0.05) for waist circumference or bitrochanteric diameter. The range of percent mean differences for the anthropometric variables was 0.3% (bitrochanteric diameter) to 9.9% (upper arm circumference). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study demonstrated that the high school female gymnasts were similar to the national sample in height, but lighter in body weight and smaller in four of the five circumferences. The circumference differences may reflect the low levels of body fatness typically found in gymnasts. This is supported by the close agreements between the groups in height and extremity diameter measures (elbow, knee, and wrist) which suggests similarities in skeletal size.
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