Posture of adolescent male handball players compared to non-athletes

Background: The aim of the present study was to assess the posture and somatic parameters in adolescent male handball players compared to non-athletes and determine whether a relationship exists between the posture and the volume of training and/or its frequency. Material/Methods: Sixty-eight adolescent male handball players and sixty-nine non-athletes aged 15–18 were examined. The posture was evaluated by the moiré method. Results: Handball players exhibited smaller and less frequent asymmetries compared to the nonathletes. Statistically significant differences were found in the position of shoulder blades (p < 0.05) and pelvic alignment in the frontal (p < 0.001) and transverse (p < 0.05) planes. The spinal shape in the sagittal plane did not differentiate the training subjects from nonathletes. The study also revealed weak correlations between the training period and a deviation of the spinous processes (r = 0.25), a symmetry of the shoulder blades (r = 0.25), and an inclination angle of the thoracolumbar segment (r = -0.26). No correlations were observed between the training frequency and posture parameters. Conclusions: It can be concluded that despite the predominance of asymmetric elements, handball training does not negatively affect the posture in the frontal and transverse planes.