Human Anatomy (with the Fundamentals of Dynamic and Sports Morphology) - Ivanitsky M. F. 2008

Morphological Support for Mass Physical Culture and Sports (Sports Morphology)

Sports Morphology is a further development of dynamic anatomy, established by M. F. Ivanitsky in the 1930s. Although the primary objective of dynamic anatomy is to study the anatomy of movements and body positions (characterizing Muscle work, joint mobility, and the Displacement of the Heart, Blood Vessels, and Internal Organs depending on posture), it is equally concerned with the adaptive changes the body undergoes in response to systematically repeated movements. Sports morphology draws extensively on data from physiology, genetics, and other biomedical disciplines. Unlike Normal Anatomy and developmental morphology, it examines not only morphological norms but also pre-pathological and pathological states of body structures under physical loads that lead to overtraining. It serves as the morphological foundation for sports medicine, much like pathological anatomy Supports clinical medicine. Historically, this function of sports morphology did not attract widespread attention because the volume of athletic loads was not as high as it is today⁹.

The preventative role of sports morphology lies in using morphological monitoring criteria to prevent athlete overtraining and guide the adaptation of the body to progressively increasing physical loads.

Certain modern sports are characterized by an early onset of specialized training, resulting in The impact of high loads on the insufficiently developed bodies of children. This poses new challenges for sports and developmental morphology that are closely linked to the demands of youth sports and the health-promoting aspects of mass physical culture.

⁹ This area of sports morphology is studied as part of the biomedical and psychological support course in sports.

Objectives of Sports Morphology

By providing the morphological foundations for sports and mass physical culture, sports morphology addresses the following tasks:

1) identifying morphofunctional traits that can be used as criteria for sports Selection and orientation;

2) establishing the informational value of morphofunctional traits as criteria for monitoring an athlete's training status;

3) studying morphofunctional manifestations of bodily adaptation to physical loads in relation to age, sex, ethno-territorial, constitutional, and professional characteristics, as well as the Methods and Means of physical culture.

Methods of Sports Morphology

The methods of sports morphology are borrowed from anatomy, anthropology, and several related fields, yet they possess a distinct orientation of their own.

Anthropometric and anthroposcopic methods (see Appendix 1) make it possible to characterize the dimensions of the body as a whole and its individual parts, evaluate body proportions, somatotypes, and the expression of descriptive traits (particularly Puberty markers). Data obtained in sports morphology through anthropometry and anthroposcopy must be analyzed from the perspective of Dynamic Morphology and biomechanics. The goal of sports morphology is not merely to document morphological uniqueness in athletes of a specific specialization, but to understand the Functional Significance of that uniqueness.

The X-ray method uses fluoroscopy and radiography to study bone and internal organ dimensions, joint mobility, and the displacement of internal organs, The Heart, and blood vessels during Physical Exercise. This is the primary method for studying anatomy in living humans.

Ultrasound echography makes it possible to use ultrasound to measure linear dimensions of anatomical structures located deep beneath the Skin that are inaccessible to direct in vivo study. This allows for the determination of subcutaneous fat thickness, muscle layer depth, and the skeletal framework of a limb. Using echocardiography, for instance, one can measure the dimensions of The Heart and its constituent structures.

The dissection method makes it possible to study the Structural Features of the body post-mortem. Such descriptions are rare in literature, which enhances their value.

Microscopic Research Methods, utilizing special histological and staining techniques, allow for The Study of microstructures—Cells and their components, as well as Extracellular matrix—under varying degrees of magnification. This involves using tissue samples extracted from The Human Body (such as Muscle tissue). Thus, morphological monitoring of the muscular system can be carried out at different stages of training.

Pedagogical experiment methods, combined with anthropometric and other aforementioned techniques, make it possible to evaluate the impact of training regimens on the morphological state of the Organism.

Animal experiment methods provide the opportunity to study bodily adaptation to simulated movement regimens. For instance, hypokinetic conditions are typically created by placing animals in cramped cages, while hyperkinetic conditions are induced by training animals to run in a specially designed apparatus—a treadmill with a moving belt driven at a set speed by an electric motor.

These methods Complement one another, in many cases acquiring a new, enriched content through this synthesis.

Classification of Sports Morphology

Sports morphology is subdivided into general and special, while general sports morphology, in turn, comprises basic and special sections.

The basic section is devoted to uncovering the general regularities of bodily adaptation to physical loads; studying the adaptation of effector organs (The Musculoskeletal System) and control and support systems for movement (nervous, cardiovascular, digestive, excretory systems, etc.); examining the genetic and environmental dependency of these organs and systems using twin studies and experiments on genetically pure animal lines (such as Wistar rats); and investigating the age- and sex-related features of bodily adaptation to physical loads.

The Special Section focuses on studying the impact of sports on the body: body dimensions and composition, body proportions, THE POSITION OF the center of gravity, and the somatotypes of athletes across various sports specializations. The goal of this section is to identify GENERAL PATTERNS OF bodily restructuring resulting from sports training and METABOLISM/18.html">The Influence of sports selection outcomes.

Applied sports morphology examines the structural characteristics of athletes in specific specializations in relation to their experience, achievement levels, sports technique specifics, training regimes, age, and sex. This branch of sports morphology is of a purely applied nature and is of particular interest to coaches and athletes alike. Knowing the normative morphological data of elite athletes provides a useful benchmark for sports selection and training planning. One of the goals for students studying general and applied sports morphology is to understand their own morphological capabilities, athletic potential, and consequently, their capacity to achieve high athletic mastery. This objective can be summed up by the ancient Greek maxim: know thyself.

History of Research in Sports Morphology

The Development of sports morphology is closely intertwined with The history of the Olympic movement. Even in ancient times, Flavius the Younger (3rd century BC) outlined the specific physical characteristics that, in his view, an athlete vying for Olympic victory should possess.

A new impetus for the advancement of sports morphology was provided by the revival of the Olympic Games in the modern era. However, the establishment of sports morphology in pre-revolutionary Russia was driven primarily by the demands of physical education. At the cradle of Russian sports morphology stood P. F. Lesgaft, a renowned anatomist, educator, and pioneer of physical education in our country. Combining specialized knowledge in anatomy and physical education, he developed theoretical anatomy with a focus on the body's response to physical loads and mechanical stress. Among the students and followers of P. F. Lesgaft were A. A. Krasuskaya, E. A. Kotikova, and others.

Today, this scholar's name is borne by the Leningrad Institute of Physical Culture (GDSIFK), where research into anatomical problems continues in the spirit of P. F. Lesgaft's ideas.

The Department of Anatomy at the Moscow Institute of Physical Culture (GTSOLIFK) has existed for over half a century. It was founded by M. F. Ivanitsky (1895–1969), who laid the groundwork for the course in sports morphology. M. F. Ivanitsky's pupils—A. A. Gladysheva, E. I. Shidlovskaya, O. N. Aksenova, and P. K. Levchin—devoted immense effort to the development of this discipline. Today, research centers in sports morphology operate in many cities across our country. A significant contribution to establishing the anatomical and anthropological foundations of sports morphology was made by V. V. Bunak, D. A. Zhdanov, and M. G. Prives, as well as by foreign researchers such as H. Grimm (GDR), J. Tanner (England), O. Eiben (Hungary), and others.