Anthropometry is a specific term in medicine that is made up of two words of Greek origin: anthropo, which refers to man, and metria, which refers to measurement. Therefore, anthropometry is the discipline that focuses on the measurement of the human body.
General principles
The main foundation of this medical discipline is the rigorous evaluation of body composition through the measurement of diameters, folds and perimeters of the human body. The information obtained from these types of evaluations allows to know the adipose tissue index of an individual, the weight of the bones or the muscles. Likewise, anthropometry makes it possible to collect information on the distribution of the different tissues in the body (for example, if there is more fat than is reasonable in a specific area).
Main measurements
The anthropometric specialist has to take a series of basic measurements (weight and height). At a next level, the bone diameter is evaluated using a caliper that measures the diameter of the wrist and the humerus, since they are the most representative bones of the human body (the data obtained is used to measure bone weight). Skin folds are equally relevant and the caliper is used to measure them (the data obtained facilitates the knowledge of the percentage of body fat).
What is it for
To exemplify the usefulness of anthropometry, we can place ourselves in the training schedule of an elite athlete. A highly competitive athlete not only trains several hours a day and professionally , but certain scientific knowledge is essential to improve their performance. Thus, nutrition , blood values or anthropometry are very useful tools.
Anthropometry in an athlete establishes, first, the athlete's morphotype or somatype (there are endomorphic, mesomorphic and ectomorphic people). Suppose that an endomorphic person (with broad bones, rounder shapes and predisposition to gain weight) wants to dedicate himself to the marathon. His desire is legitimate but his typology makes it very difficult for him to become a high-level marathoner, since this type of runner must have a minimum fat index, something very difficult in an endomorphic body.
The set of anthropometric data in an athlete will allow to better plan their training and everything that may influence them (especially their diet ).