Bodybuilding links to Upper Crossed Syndrome

Introduction: Upper cross syndrome is becoming more prevalent in today’s population. The syndrome is described as a postural disorder presenting with over active pectoralis musculature and upper trapezius musculature. Also there is inhibition of lower and middle trapezius musculature, which results in winging of scapula, elevated and abducted scapula. This scapular dyskinesia, per se, resulted in rounding of shoulders. The syndrome is often associated with bad posture in routine life or occupation of a person. Little is known about the relationship between sport participation and postural body changes of bodybuilding training. Our aim is to investigate whether bodybuilding training in trained-individuals is associated with the postural abnormalities in the upper body. Methods: 60 male, trained bodybuilders (age= 24.62±3.67 years, body weight= 82.40±9 kg, height= 175±0.067 cm, body mass index (BMI( = 26.77±2.37 Kg/m2, body fat percentage = 21.58±3.21) and 30 un-trained (age= 24.67±2.24 years, body weight= 73.33±9.42 kg, height= 175±0.06 cm, body mass index (BMI) = 23.93±3.16 Kg/m2, body fat percentage = 18.17±3.76) volunteered and were thus included in the study. Postural photographs were taken in the sagittal and frontal planes, and were analyzed by using AutoCAD software. The Flexi curve ruler was used for the assessment of thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis. Results: Using an independent sample t-test, significant differences were observed in the values of forward head posture between trained and untrained groups (p=0.001) and Mann-Whitney U test showed there was significant differences between the values of uneven shoulders (p=0.001), rounded shoulder (p=0.009) and kyphosis (p=0.013), but there was no significant difference between lordosis values in two groups. Conclusion: It can be concluded that there is a high incidence of upper body abnormalities among bodybuilders and this should be taken as a minatory situation on behalf of bodybuilding trainers. Therefore, strength coaches should design an appropriate training program to prevent their trainees fromsuch abnormalities.