Influence of long-term participation in amateur sports on physical posture of teenagers

AIM: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore the influence of long-term participating in amateur sports on body posture of school students. METHODS: A survey on sport participation was conducted on 1,658 volunteer students aged from 6 to 17 years in two primary schools and one meddle school in Tianjin city. The PA200LE body posture evaluation system and a SpineScanSH-115 electronic spine measuring instrument were used to assess the participants’ body posture. According to the survey results and against the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 1,124 eligible participants were divided into seven sport participation groups and seven age-matched control groups for statistical comparisons. RESULTS: Compared with the age-matched controls, the natural standing thoracic kyphosis angle of the swimming group (35.0 ± 9.5 VS 31.2 ± 8.5; t = − 2.560; p = 0.011) and the football group (34.6 ± 7.2 VS 31.9 ± 7.5; t = − 2.754; p = 0.006) were found to be significantly larger; the natural standing lumbar lordosis angle (−23.0 ± 11.0 VS −27.0 ± 11.1; t = 0.344; p = 0.024) and the upright sitting lumbar lordosis angle (−11.7 ± 8.4 VS −15.2 ± 12.3; t = 5.738; p = 0.030) of the swimming group was significantly smaller; the upright sitting thoracic kyphosis angle of the running group (25.1 ± 9.3 VS 22.6 ± 9.9; t = − 1.970; p = 0.050) was significantly larger; the upright sitting thoracic kyphosis angle (23.9 ± 8.9 VS 27.0 ± 7.6; t = 2.096; p = 0.038), the learning position thoracic kyphosis angle (31.0 ± 8.6 VS 37.1 ± 8.9; t = 3.076; p = 0.003), the shoulder level (−1.3 ± 2.1 VS 0.0 ± 2.5; t = 2.389; p = 0.019) and waist level (−1.2 ± 1.7 VS −0.3 ± 1.7; t = 2.511; p = 0.013) of the table tennis group were significantly smaller. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that long-term participation in recreational sports training had an impact on the physical posture of adolescents.