Postural Analysis of Male Football Athletes from Different Age Levels of Training

The definition of body posture involves a relative arrangement of body parts. Football is the most popular sport in the world with an injury rate of 4.47 injuries per 1000 hours of play/training per athlete. Photogrammetry is a valid and reproductive method for evaluating postural differences with quantitative and accurate results. The aim of this study is to present a postural analysis of children and young football players, using photogrammetry. Method: The sample consisted of 263 athletes (ages between 4 and 18 years) where, through the photographic register and use of SAPO® software the main postural deviations of the children were calculated and subsequently analyzed descriptively in the IBM SPSS software. Results: The results obtained show deviations in point A1 - alignment of the acromion (21.4% to 50% of athletes on the right (R) and 16.7% to 40.5% of athletes on the left (L); A2 - alignment of the anterosuperior iliac spine (42.9% of athletes to (R) and 14.3% to 64.9% to the left (L); A3 alignment of tibia tuberosities (27.9% to 55% of athletes (R), 27% to 48.5% of athletes (L); A4 and A5 – angle Q (R and L) (50% to 91% of athletes with tendency to knee varus); A6 – horizontal alignment of the pelvis (tendency to hyperlordosis of 28% for juveniles with an average deviation of -15.4° ± 7.7). Conclusion: The postural analysis of the athletes allows a better knowledge about the most frequent deviations that, over time, can become painful, being important an intervention and specific planning at this level, trying to prevent future injuries.