Composition And Posterior Thigh Characteristics By Sport In Competitive Female Athletes Ages 50+

A physically active lifestyle and ability to compete in sport is important for many older individuals. Worldwide, tens of thousands of aging female athletes compete in various sports into their late 80s. We measured and analyzed posterior thigh characteristics of female competitors at the Huntsman World Senior Games, where aging athletes of all levels gather annually to compete in more than 40 competitive sporting events. PURPOSE: Develop sport-specific athletic profiles to use as a basis for future studies of general and specific athlete characteristics. METHODS: Using IPAQ-SF, Nordbord, and ultrasound, we recorded demographics, activity levels, and posterior thigh characteristics of 49 female athletes. We used Bayesian methods to determine and compare group averages by each athlete’s self-reported main competitive sports. We separated the athletes (65.7 ± 6.7 years, 166 ± 9 cm, 65.7 ± 10.3 kg) into 4 groups. We specifically analyzed group distributions and differences for age, height, hours of weekly vigorous exercise, eccentric force produced by hamstrings, hamstring cross sectional area (CSA), and posterior thigh subcutaneous fat thickness. RESULTS: The 95% credible intervals for each group and variable are reported in Table 1. Table : 95% credible intervals for posterior distributions for each sport. * Indicates the sport's posterior means have > 0.95 probability of being greater than at least one other sport's. - Sport n Age Height (cm) Hours Weekly Vigorous Exercise Eccentric hamstring force (N) Hamstring CSA (cm2) Posterior thigh subcutaneous fat thickness (cm) Pickleball 14 64.2-71.2* 163-172* -0.44-3.27 381-387* 19.7-24.4* 0.82-1.21* Run Swim Bike 8 59.1-68.3 161-173 1.15-4.43 174-315 13.2-20.1 0.50-1.09 Softball 13 61.7-69.1 157-166 0.01-4.41 222-331 19.8-24.7* 0.77-1.18* Volleyball 14 59.3-66.4 164-174* 4.11-7.18* 317-423* 19.3-23.9* 0.50-0.88 CONCLUSION: Each group differs significantly—and meaningfully—from others in at least one of the chosen variables. Understanding the credible range of measurements for each sport may inform training, rehabilitation, injury prevention, and/or return to sport recommendations made by coaches, trainers, health care professionals, or the athletes themselves.