Evaluation of Size of Trunk Asymmetry in Children Practicing Selected Sports Disciplines

Abstract

(1) Background: The aim of the study was to assess the body posture of children practicing selected sports disciplines and to compare it to the body posture of non-training children. (2) Methods: 247 children practicing a selected discipline either in primary sports schools or in sports clubs constituted the study group. The control group was composed of 63 children that did not practice any sport. The study of body posture by using the Moiré method allowed for assessing the size of parameters determining body posture. Selected parameters characterizing the position of the shoulders and shoulder blades, the waist triangle, and the position of the posterior iliac spines were analyzed. (3) Results: The differences in the selected parameters were not statistically significant in all parameters except the model describing the values determining the depth of the shoulder blades that were measured in millimeters between the groups. (4) Conclusions: Most of the examined people had correct body posture in the sagittal plane, regardless of the type of sport practiced. In all the examined groups, the most common dysfunctions were asymmetries of moderate intensity in the frontal plane. The results of our own research did not allow us to clearly state whether practicing different sports disciplines and different training loads has a negative or positive impact on body posture. The lack of asymmetry of high intensity in the groups of people practicing various sports disciplines, despite the fact that the given disciplines are asymmetric, may indicate that exercises during the training process are correctly selected.