A Comparative Study of the Flexibility of the Shoulder Girdle, Pelvic Girdle, and Spinal Column between Middle School Students and Young Judokas and Football Players in Constantine (Aged 11–12 Years)

Abstract

 This study aimed to describe and compare the flexibility of the shoulder girdle, spinal column, and pelvic girdle among children practicing sports in clubs (judo and football) and those participating only in physical education classes at school. The researchers adopted a descriptive research design by assessing the range of motion of the three joint regions in three groups, each consisting of 24 children with mean ages of 11.458 ± 0.509, 11.083 ± 0.654, and 11.250 ± 0.794 years, respectively. The children in the judo and football groups trained in their respective clubs twice a week, with each training session lasting one and a half hours, in addition to attending regular physical education classes at school. The findings revealed highly statistically significant differences in the flexibility of the shoulder girdle, spinal column, and pelvic girdle in favor of the judo group (p<0.001). Furthermore, statistically significant differences were observed in the flexibility of the three joint regions in favor of the football group compared with the group that participated only in physical education classes (p< 0.01).