Spinal Curvature Changed With Years Of Training In Rhythmic Gymnast

Rhythmic gymnasts (RG) widely claim spinal issues after years of training and the reported rate of spinal scoliosis was 53.9%, which heavily affects their quality of life. Yet, no studies examine the change of spinal curvatures with training experience in a quantitative way. PURPOSE: To explore the relationship of rhythmic gymnastics training on spinal curvatures. METHODS: 14 RG (8 amateur and 6 professional) with various years of training (8.6 ± 4.6 for amateur RG and 12.0 ± 1.8 for professional RG) and 14 ordinary students without any related training took a spinal morphology examination. The whole spine (from C7 to S2) was scanned in barefoot standing posture using the Spinal Mouse® with both sagittal and frontal modes. Thoracic kyphosis angle (TKA), lumbar lordosis angle (LLA), spinal inclination angle (SIA), thoracic and lumbar cobb angles (TCA, LCA) were measured and compared. RESULTS: Spinal curvature angles presented significant differences in both sagittal and frontal planes between RG and ordinary students (P < 0.01). Specifically, RG presented greater LCA and lower TKA, LLA and SIA. Linear correlation analysis showed that both TKA (r = -0.639, P = 0.010; Fig.1c) and SIA (r = -0.736, P = 0.002; Fig.1d) were negatively correlated with years of training. CONCLUSION: Rhythmic gymnastics training showed strong impacts on spinal curvature and RG tended to increase lateral spinal curvature in the thoracolumbar region and reduce the spinal curvature in sagittal plane (i.e., “flat back”) with years of training.Fig. 1 Correlation of spinal curvature angles and years of training. ★indicates mean value of ordinary students.Supported by the China Scholarship Council (S.M.).Supported by: Supported by the China Scholarship Council (S.M.).