Introduction and Anatomic Basis for Athletic Injury Assessment

The Body As a Whole

Assessment of injury begins with systematic and deliberate observation of the athlete as a whole.

You always have to deal with the body as a whole when dealing with injury.

SomatotypeThere are a variety of athletic body types and

physiques.

Certain physiques dominate particular sports or positions within the sport.

The classification of the body according to physique is known as somatoyping.

Three categories of somaotypes:

Endomorph: characterized by a roundness and softness of the body. Carry more body fat.

Mesomorph: has a very muscular physique with heavy bones.

Ectomorph: small bones and lean body.

Somatotypes can have cross-over.

Ex: Mesoendomorphs

Body CompositionThe assessment of body composition is more

valuable than somatotyping.

The assessment of body composition is used to identify what percentage of the body is made up of lean tissue and what percentage is fat.

Body comp can serve a variety of purposes in athletics:Set minimal weight guidelines for sports with

weight classes.Monitor athletes as they try to lose or gain

weight.

Used to determine is an athlete is “overweight” or “overfat”

Many athletes are well above the average weight because of increased muscle mass, not fat.Height-weight charts.BMI

Average health body fat %’s:Male 15-18%Female 22-29%

Athletes body fat may be much lower than average.

There is no single percentage of fat that can be singles out as optimal.Each athlete is unique.