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Critical Reviews™ in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine

ISSN for PRINT: 0896-2960

Institutional price:	$684.00
Issues per year:	4

2005, Volume17

90 pages

DOI: 10.1615/CritRevPhysRehabilMed.v17.i4

Issue price - $163.00

Somatotyping Morphology

Marlene Beaulieu, BSc
Laboratoire d'Etude du Mouvement, Research Center, Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Paul Allard, PhD
Laboratoire d'Etude du Mouvement, Research Center, Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Sebastien Hinse, MSc
Laboratoire d'Etude du Mouvement, Research Center, Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Martin Simoneau, PhD
Medecine sociale et preventive (Kinesiologie), Pavillon de l'Education physique et des sports, Universite Laval, Quebec, Canada

Charles-Hilaire Rivard, MD
Laboratoire d'Etude du Mouvement, Research Center, Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

ABSTRACT

The study of body composition and shape goes back to the 5th century BC. But it was only in the last century that Sheldon (1940)⁶ structured it into a method for the description of human body morphology, expanding on simple anthropometric measurements. This qualitative method became quantitative and objective by Carter and Heath (1990).¹⁴ Somatotyping morphology describes body composition and structure as endomorphic (fatness), mesomorphic (muscular), and ectomorphic (slenderness). Since then, investigators have associated somatotyping morphology with health problems, sport performance, and mental diseases. The aim of this review is to present an historical overview of somatotyping morphology and highlight how it has evolved from a descriptive and classification method of the body shape into a tool for understanding motor control strategies.