The history of development of doctrine of somatotypes: the publications review

Abstract

The study required o apply various modes of corresponding publications search through such international databases as RussiaScopus, Web of Science, Medline, The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Global Health, CyberLeninka, RISC, eLIBRARY.RU. Actually, there are not less than one hundred definitions of constitution of individual. For the first time, constitutional differences were mentioned in Ayurveda. The following mentioning about constitutional types is found in the teachings of Hippocrates. The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle supplemented the teachings of Hippocrates. In the 18th century the somatic predispositions of the psyche were mentioned for the first time by J.-A. de La Mettrie. However, the systemic study of constitutional characteristics begins only in the 19th century. In the 20th century, the constitutional characters of human began to be associated with such clinical science as psychiatry. In the mid-30s of the 20th century acquires significance the classification of types approved by I. P. Pavlov. After Pavlov's theory, numerous works begin to appear where attempts are made to determine the main somatotypic reactions of individuals (V. B. Shtefko, A. D. Ostrovsky, V. N. Shevkunenko). In 1929, V. N. Shevkunenko, the outstanding Leningrad scientist, developed the classification that was lead as foundation of the theory of W. H. Sheldon (1940, 1942). Approximately in the same time period (1941) the Russian researcher V. V. Bunak develops criterion estimated indices of classification for males. In the end of 20th century classifications by B. Heath and L. Carter, V. P. Chtetsov, R. N. Dorokhov, V. G. Petrukhin, A. V. Kondrashov acquire great reputation. In the 21st century, the methods directed to biologically differential indices lined up with consideration of medical individual indices of body mass and body length are developed. Nowadays, despite of enormous number of methods, the universal criteria for somatotyping are to be developed.