Assessing Body Composition of Athletes

There may be several reasons for undertaking physique assessment amongst athletes with an impairment, including general health screens, appropriate sizing/fitting or design of prostheses, talent identification initiatives, or routine monitoring of adaptation to training and diet. The rationale for assessment and outcome measures of interest will play a key role in ascertaining which physique assessment technique and normative data to use in assisting to interpret the data collected. Consideration must also be given to the individual athlete and their specific impairment. This may have implications in either the practical administration of the assessment technique and/or the unique physical characteristics which violate underlying assumptions associated with a specific physique assessment technique. For example, the spasm often associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) would corrupt dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan integrity but have little impact on data captured using air displacement plethysmography (BOD POD) (Rosendale and Bartok 2012; Tegenkamp et al. 2011). In contrast, it would be logistically easier to position an athlete with quadriplegia 12.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 189 12.2 Physique Assessment Techniques ................................................................. 190 12.2.1 Body Composition Models: Two-, Three-, and FourCompartment Models ....................................................................... 192 12.2.2 Air Displacement Plethysmography ................................................. 194 12.2.3 Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry ................................................ 195 12.2.4 Bio-Electrical Impedance Analysis ..................................................200