Dr.Biol., Professor O.G. Litovchenko¹
Postgraduate student V.N. Sobakar'¹
Postgraduate student M.S. Ishbulatova¹
Surgut State University, Surgut

Keywords: morphofunctional state, kyokushinkaikan karate, natives of Middle Ob region.

Introduction. Body functions of people living in northern territories of the country are heavily affected by the local climate and geographical location related factors. And it is only natural that under the harsh weather and environmental conditions of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District (Yugra area) a child’s body is more vulnerable than an adult one to negative impacts of the northern environment for the simple reason that its body systems are still in formation process and every function of these systems is still fragile and imperfect. However, tolerance of the body to the negative environmental impacts may be improved by regular physical activity [2, 3, 5].

The purpose of the research was to study the morphofunctional state of the underage combat athletes dwelling in the Middle Ob (the Ob River valley) region, based on Kyokushinkaikan karate as a case study sport.

Materials and methods. Kyokushinkaikan-style karate is the combat sport that requires complex and highly-coordinated motor skills being mastered by the athlete. Its training systems are largely focused on developing general endurance through different cyclic training practices. Children of 8 to 10 years of age are known to be the age group most susceptible to the specific basic motor skills formation processes.

The study was designed to obtain and analyze the morphofunctional state indicators of junior students in the city of Surgut. 162 boys aged 8 to 10 and born in the Middle Ob region were subject to the study; all these boys were students of different educational establishments based in Surgut. Test groups of 72 boys in total were made of junior Kyokushinkaikan karatekas involved in regular training process; and control groups of 90 boys in total were formed of the children non-involved in any sports activity. Physical activity of the tested junior karatekas was estimated to total at least seven hours per week, including three hours of physical education lessons in their educational establishments and four hours of special karate mastering practices.

The children were split up into the relevant age groups based on their birth dates plus-minus 6 months [1]. The tested boys were rated with Health Groups 1 and 2 conditional on being never registered by the local dispensary clinics as patients. The tests were run in the autumn period of the school year (October through November) in the forenoon. The tested children were required to provide a voluntary written informed consent of their parents as an obligatory condition for participation in the research.

The karatekas’ morphofunctional state valuations were designed based on the following set of methods: total body measurements (including chest circumference (CC), height and weight; heart rate (HR); pulse rate (PR); and vital capacity (VC) measurements. Based on these data, we calculated the Body Mass Index (BMI); the Vervek-Vorontsov Index (VVI); the Kerdo Vegetation Index (KVI); and the Functional Variation Index (FVI). Statistical analyses of the resultant data were made using Statistica10 Application Software Package.

Study results and discussion. The morphofunctional state indicators of the 8 to 10 years old children from the Middle Ob region involved in physical activity of different intensity levels were found specific in some aspects [4]. The morphofunctional state specifics of the underage karatekas were rated and studied in the context of typical ontogenetic population biological regularities of the body morphofunctional development process (Table 1 hereunder).

The 8 years old children having average body length shorter than their local coevals were attributed to the test group of karatekas. The tested group of boys showed natural growth dynamics with age as verified by the total body measurements [6]. Reliable differences of the body weight and height measurements were registered comparing the age groups of 8 vs. 9; and 9 vs. 10 years of age for the sport groups vs. the non-sport groups. Average body height index for the non-sport groups of children was higher than that for the junior karatekas’ groups. With age the reliable body-height differences of 8 years-olds evolved to the values having no reliable differences for the 10 years-olds in the control group and the experimental group. The body growth rates in the period of 8 to 10 years of age in the absolute values were higher for the junior athletes vs. non-athletes (8.10cm vs. 7.80cm, respectively); whilst the body weight growth rate for the same period was higher for the young non-athletes vs. athletes (7.28kg vs. 6.80kg, respectively).

The resultant data analysis for the junior athletes and non-athletes showed reliable differences in the body weight indices, with the average BMI for the test groups of junior karatekas being found to stay within the relevant age norm.

The distribution of somatic types in northern populations is normally quite asymmetric, with the distortion being dependent on the environmental action trend. The somatotypological status may be of influence on the phenotypic adaptation system [7]. The Vervek-Vorontsov Indices we obtained were indicative of the mesomorphic body type being dominant in all tested groups of the 8 to 10 years-olds born in the city of Surgut.

The blood circulation system functionality indices (HR and BP) of the children were found to fall within the relevant age norms. We studied and analyzed factors of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems formation process for the both key groups. Our study showed the normal dynamic of the pulse rate decrease and the blood pressure and vital capacity increase with age.

The environmental and climate conditions of the northern territories are known to trigger certain biological responses in the underage human body. The computed Kerdo vegetative indices (KVI) were indicative of the sympathetic effects of the autonomic nervous system on the cardiovascular system functionality both for the junior athletes and their peer non-athletes born in Surgut city. We detected the KVI falling trend in the time period of 8 to 10 years of age. The functional variation indices for all boys of 8 to 10 years of age were indicative of their satisfactory adaptation levels.

Conclusion. The morphofunctional state indices of the 8 to 10 year-old karatekas born and dwelling in the Middle Ob region were found corresponding to the age norms. The study results give the reasons to confirm the positive effects of regular physical activity on the underage human body in martial arts like the Kyokushinkaikan-style karate; and the great potential for application of these sports in the children’s physical education process. Karate courses may be recommended as a component of the additional physical education curriculum in the northern territories.

Table 1. Morphofunctional state indices for the 8 to 10 years old boys born and dwelling in Surgut city, for the karatekas’ group and control group (M±m)

* reliable difference of the athletes' group vs. the earlier age group (p≤0.05);

^ reliable difference of the non- athletes' group vs. the earlier age group (p≤0.05);

◊ reliable difference of the athletes' group vs. the non- athletes' group of the same age(p≤0.05).

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Corresponding author: apokin_vv@mail.ru