Why does gymnastics make you short

There are certain proofs. Moreover, any possible effects on growth do not likely occur in recreational gymnasts. A study reveals that young women gymnasts who practice rigorously and gravitate to the specific sport usually tend to have short height. Many taller players leave gymnastics. However, it is still not clear if the taller gymnasts leave the sport by themselves as they find it extremely difficult to continue the high level of training.

Experts say that gymnastics is not only for short people. There are some top level competitors who are quite tall. For example, Georgia Rose Brown, an Australian gymnast is 5 feet 8 inches tall. A famous physiologist named Dr. It was for BBC. According to him, short height of gymnasts helps them in rotational skills like somersaults. There is a professor named Dr.

Robert M. Malina from Kinesiology department at the University of Texas located at Austin. He opined that majority of gymnasts have short height because their parents are short.

Added, they possess delayed bone age indicating that their skeletal maturation is lower than their actual age. Another study has been done on 83 female gymnasts who are active, 42 retired gymnasts, and non gymnasts who are completely healthy. The finding revealed that active gymnasts have shown deficits in sitting height and leg length. For example, swimming. So that they can be more successful at a suitable sport that goes with their build.

Unlike gymnastics that prefer kids with a short body. And this is one good reason why young female athletes often gets selected in a high-level sports team on the basis of their physique, size, and skill.

And during this selection process, subconsciously the body size is coming into play from very beginning. The smaller size of a gymnast actually takes place even before training starts. Those who have the concern of stunt growth might also want to know whether training has any bad impact on body.

Well, this segment should help you a bit. Usually, people would want to know about long term bone density and if it has an impact from weight-bearing. You may also wonder about the effect on the lungs and heart. In adolescent athletes, strenuous activity actually results in enhanced development. During childhood and adolescence, regular training can be a great way to enhance bone mineral content as well as the mass. And gymnastics involves weight-bearing moves a lot similar to running and soccer.

There are also proven researches that say that sports participation during the pre-pubertal era is very effective to get a great bone density in adulthood.

Being involved in such active sports is also proven to lessen fracture risk after menopause. The only possible problem can be overuse injury in young athletes. As a general rule, Baker recommends waiting until an athlete reaches adolescence to begin to specialize.

Yes, she might be a more well-rounded athlete, but she has little to no chance of competing in college or at the elite level. Studies suggest that when working with a pre-pubescent child, coaches should be kind, cheerful, and encouraging. Parents should allow children to sample a variety of sports, finally beginning to specialize around age 12 or Keep in mind — some sports have an earlier age of peak performance, so this type of recommendation could prevent a young athlete from reaching elite status.

There is so much controversy around this topic. Some experts believe that intensive training at a young age delays puberty and stunts growth. A study by Erlandson and associates tracked the growth and maturation of adolescent female gymnasts, swimmers, and tennis players into adulthood. They took annual measurements for three years and did a follow-up ten years later. The study found that intensive training in each of the three sports did not change the tempo of maturation or physical growth.

Gymnasts had smaller stature than swimmers or tennis players not surprisingly , but swimmers were in the taller 50 th percentile despite similarly rigorous training hours. Young female athletes are often selected to high-level teams in terms of skill, size, and physique. This selection is often done at the subconscious level. The guy basically has flippers for feet! At age 13, I was 5 feet tall. A perfectly average height, but I towered over my tiny gymnast peers.

In gymnastics, the smaller you are, the easier it is to move your body around. The bigger you are, the more strength is required to do the same skills. Saying gymnastics makes athletes small is like saying golf makes people rich. Bottom line: athletes choose and are chosen for sports based on having a genetic advantage toward a physique that will increase their chances of being successful in that sport. Other questions people ask about include: Does weight-bearing impact affect long-term bone density?

How does intensive training affect the heart and lungs? Studies show that development may actually be enhanced by strenuous activity in adolescent athletes Rowland, Regular training in childhood and adolescence is associated with increased bone mineral content and mass, especially in weight-bearing activities i. An article by