Morpho-functional features of young athletes

Abstract

Objective: to study the morphological and functional features of young athletes. Materials and methods: The study involved 102 young athletes aged 12 to 17. The control (0) group included 28 schoolchildren who were not involved in professional sport. The study group (1) included 35 children from a youth sport swimming school. The study group (2) included 47 young field hockey players. The study group (3) included 20 young athletes from the Republican Specialized Children and Youth Sports School of the Olympic Fencing Reserve of the Republic of Tatarstan. The examination of the children involved: anamnestic data, a survey, a general clinical examination, a blood pressure measurement, dynamometry, anthropometry (measurement of weight and height with body mass index calculation), body composition analysis with a TANITA analyzer. All the young athletes were examined by specialists: a cardiologist, a neurologist, a surgeon, an orthopedist, an ophthalmologist, an otorhinolaryngologist and a dentist. The laboratory and instrumental tests included: a clinical blood test, a general urine test, a resting ECG and a cardiac stress test, an echocardiogram, a respiratory function test, an ultrasound abdominal cavity and pelvic organs test. Results: the young athletes demonstrated higher physical development parameters than the average values in the control group. The percentage of the body fat in the boys and girls in the control group is significantly higher than that in the young athletes. At the same time, the muscle mass in boys not involved in sports is lower than the that in the groups of athletes. Findings: The study, the screening and the retrospective analysis revealed significant differences in the characteristics of the studied groups of children and adolescents, as well as the presence of individual conditions associated with sports.