STUDIES ON THE FLEXIBILITY OF BODY A NEW EVALUATION OF BODILY FLEXIBILITY BY DISTANCE METHOD
- VernacularTitle:体柔軟性についての考察体柔軟度測定値 (距離法) の新しい評価法
- Author:
MASASHI SUGAHARA
;
MASASHI NAKAMURA
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:Japanese Journal of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine
1977;26(1):44-50
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
-
Abstract:
Comparative studies were carried out on methods for measuring and evaluating bodily flexibility using the data of measurements of toe touching and chest and leg raising (one of the so-called distance methods) and the ventro-dorsal motion range (degree) of the lumbar spine with Iino's spinometer (taken as one of the so-called angular methods) in 100 young male subjects. After reviewing the values of the distance method in relation to physique and statistical relations between the values of the angular method and the distance method, the following conclusions were obtained.
A. The values of measurement by the conventional distance method were correlative with physique values. The value of toe touching (TT) showed a significant correlation with body height, leg length and arm length. The value of chest and leg raising (CLR) showed a correlation with body height and leg length. These two values involve a risk that the assessment of flexibility may be influenced by physique.
B. Accordingly it is proposed that the following formula is reasonable for TT in order to eliminate the influence of physical factors.
(1-arm length-conventional toe touching value/body height) ×100
This may be called a toe touching index (TT Index) .
An index of CLR relative to body height is likewise proposed as follows.
Chest and leg raising index (CLR Index) =chest and leg raising value/body height×100
C. TT Index and CLR Index were not correlative with physique. The correlation of TT Index to CLR Index was higher than that of conventional TT value and CLR value
D. Regarding the correlation with the values for the maximal motion ranges (degree) of the lumbar spine, these two indices were higher than the conventional values of TT and CLR, especially they showed the closest correlation with the range of maximal extension (degree) among some measurment items on the mobility of the lumbar spine.
Above all, the correlation of TT Index and CLR Index added together, with the range of maximal extension was the highest, showing a coefficient of +0.571.
