Does gymnastics training inhibit growth of females?

Objective: The increasingly dominant performance of smaller-sized female gy mnasts and increased magnitude of training beginning at an early age have p rompted public and medical concerns, especially from an auxological perspec tive. The objective of this review is to determine if gymnastics training i nhibits growth of females. Data Sources: An extensive research of MedLine (PubMed interface) along wit h cross-referencing was conducted using the Text and MeSH words "gymnastics " in combination with "growth," "maturation," "body height," "body weight," and "growth plate." Our analysis is limited to English articles only. Study Selection: All published studies that included data related to the re search questions were included. Main Results: Although data from three historical cohort studies indicate t hat female gymnasts are short even before they begin training, clinical rep orts and cohort studies do suggest that some female gymnasts experience att enuated growth during training followed by catch-up growth during periods o f reduced training or retirement. There is conflicting evidence whether the "catch-up" is complete. There were no studies reporting prevalence or inci dence of inadequate growth. Three cohort studies provide evidence of reduce d growth but training was not partitioned from other confounding factors in the gymnastics environment. Although there is a paucity of studies examini ng the link of dietary practices with diminished growth in female gymnasts, a review of related dietary literature indicates the potential for insuffi cient energy and nutrient intake among female gymnasts. Conclusions: Elite level or heavily involved female gymnasts may experience attenuated growth during their years of training and competition followed by catch-up growth during reduced training schedules or the months followin g retirement. However, a cause-effect relation between gymnastics training and inadequate growth of females has not been demonstrated.