Comparative upper-quarter posture analysis of female adolescent freestyle swimmers and non-swimmers.

Repetitive upper-quarter limb movements imposed by freestyle swimming, may lead to muscle length and tension changes, predisposing adolescent swimmers to postural malalignment. The study aimed to quantify the static upper-quarter postural alignment of competitive female adolescent freestyle swimmers, and compare their results to non-swimming peers and to angles of spinal sagittal posture available in the literature. A cross-sectional study design was employed. The evaluation group (EVAL) consisted of 35 competitive swimmers (15 ± 3 y; 166.5 ± 9.9 cm; 65.5 ± 7.7 kg) and the control group (CON) of 36 peers (15 ± 3 y; 164.2 ± 6.7 cm; 62.1 ± 9.1 kg). Spinal sagittal posture was measured by photographic posture analysis. Median ± interquartile range and inter-group differences were calculated. Significant differences (p = 0.00) between groups for all variables, with a moderate - large effect, was observed. EVAL demonstrated restricted median scores for head-tilt angle (-8.7°), cervical angle (-13.3°) and shoulder protraction - retraction angle (-24°), and a greater score for thoracic angle (+7.4°), when compared to CON. EVAL and CON deviated from proposed criterion scores for cervical and thoracic angles, with EVAL also deviating from head-tilt angle and shoulder protraction - retraction angle criteria. In this group of adolescent participants, postural malalignment may have been exacerbated by years of freestyle swim training.Ethical Approval: University of Pretoria, Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee, Ethics Reference No.: 124/2017.