INTRODUCTION

Assessing sports talent by looking for possible correlations between anthropometric measurements and sports performance (Matarazzo & D'Anastasio, 2022) is one of the objectives of anthropometry as a science that deals with the measurement and study of human body dimensions (Kanchan & Krishan, 2011). A systematic review carried out by Lima-Borges et al. (2022) highlights how anthropometric variables can interfere with the physical performance of swimmers; however, the authors only focused on body weight, stature, torso height and lower limb length.

Although there are studies in the literature concerning the fluid dynamics and propulsive forces generated by the hands and the influence of finger position, only very few anthropometric data on the hands of elite male swimmers have been published. Pan et al. (2023) reported hand width to hand length ratio values of elite Chinese swimmers specialising in medium and short distances (races between 50 m and 400 m). The hand length of competitive youth swimmers from Uk are reported by Nevill et al. (2015). To the best of our knowledge, there is no other anthropometric data collected on the hands of elite swimmers. In order to estimate the optimal body size, limb-segment length, and girth or breadth ratios associated with 100-m butterfly speed performance in swimmers, Sammound et al. (2018a) measured their hand-lengths, but did not find a positive correlation between hand length and sport performance. Data on hand length in young swimmers were reported in a paper published by Sammoud et al. (2018), in which the authors demonstrated a significant correlation between hand length/ forearm length ratio and sports performance in the 100 m breaststroke.

What is the average hand size of a professional swimmer? Does hand size have a positive influence on performance? The aim of the present study is to report on the hand size of Italian elite male athletes and making the data available to the scientific literature. The creation of a database with the anthropometric measurements of swimmers' hands is the first step towards finding answers to the aforementioned questions.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

N. Subjects 15 still active Italian elite athletes, aged between 26 and 37 years, took part in the study. The athletes were selected on the basis of their achievements in the 2022 sports season. The athletes included a medallist at the World Open Water Swimming Championships and a winner of the World Cup ultra swim marathon circuit (open water distances over 25km). The swimmers involved have won 10 medals at the European Swimming and Open Water Swimming Championships, 13 medals at World Cups, and all are multiple medallists at the Italian Swimming Championships. The athletes do 10 training sessions per week for a total of 5 hours of daily training. Each athlete's height, weight and the following 7 hand dimensions were measured (Fig. 1): hand lenght (1); palm lenght (2); hand breadth metacarpal (3); middle finger lenght (4); index finger length (5); thumb distance (6); distance from the thumb root to first flexure line of the index finger - trigger length. (7). Hand dimensions were measured with a Cerescorf anthropometric tape; stature was measured using a portable stadium meter; weight was measured by a mechanical column scale, SECA model 711, Hamburg, Germany. Linear dimensions were noted with an accuracy of one millimeter, while weight was noted with an accuracy of 0.5 kg following ISO 15535:2006-General requirements for the creation of anthropometric databases. Hand dimensions were taken on the right hand. As references (EN ISO 15535, 2006), flexion lines, i.e. the joint lines in the vicinity of the synovial joints, produced by the adhesions of the skin to the deep sub-adjacent fascia, were used for the main measurements. The flexion lines bend the skin across the flexor surfaces of the wrist, palm and fingers and are the sites of skin bending during movement. Considering the small sample size and the absence of anthropometric data on the hand of professional swimmers of other nationalities in the literature, only descriptive database statistics (mean and standard deviation) were carried out, omitting comparative statistical elaborations.

Fig. 1 Anthropometric measurements: hand lenght (1); palm lenght (2); hand breadth metacarpal (3); middle finger length (4); index finger length (5); thumb distance (6); distance from the thumb root to first flexure line of the index finger - trigger length (7). 

RESULTS

Descriptive statistics were performed on hand measurements taken from a sample of participants with an average age of 28.93 (± 3.67) years, with an interval range of 26 37 years. Height varies between181 and 195 cm, with an average value of 185.5cm (± 4.35). The swimmers had an average weight of 81.32kg (± 6.75) and an average BMI value of 23.64 (± 1.53). The values of the anthropometric hand measurements are shown in Table I.

Table I Descriptive statistics of the sample of swimmers. 

^{BMI: Body Mass Index. $ Numbers 1-7: anthropometric hand measures (see Fig. 1). & DS: Standard Deviation. Swimmer A: Bronze medal at the World Championships. Swimmer B: Bronze medal at the World Championships, gold medal at the European Championships. Swimmer C: Silver and bronze medal at the World Championships; silver and bronze medal at the European Championship. Swimmer D: Gold medal at the World Championships; silver and gold medal at the European Championship. Swimmer E: Gold medal at the World Championships. Swimmer H: Gold medal at the Ultra Marathon Swim Series competitions. Swimmer M Multiple medallist in World Cup stages}.

DISCUSSION

Hand anthropometric data of elite Italian swimmers were compared with the same parameters measured in sedentary Filipino Vietnamese (Del Prado-Lu, 2007), Bangladeshi (Imrhan et al., 2006), Jordanian (Mandahawi et al., 2008), Turkish (Cakit et al., 2014) Mexican (Imrhan & Contreras, 2005) and Czechs (Bures et al., 2015) (Table II).

In most cases, the comparison is limited to hand length, palm width and third finger length only as, with the exception of the Czech population, the other anthropometric measurements have not been published in the literature.

Italian swimmers have a longer average hand length than sedentary individuals of other nationalities, with the exception of Filipino individuals. The width of the hand at metacarpal level shows the same trend. All other anthropometric parameters of the hands of Italian swimmers show higher values than sedentary individuals of other nations.

The anthropometric profile of an athlete is correlated with sports performance (Norton et al., 1996), although it is not the only determining factor (e.g. 'resilience' also has its relevance in sports success) (Sarkar & Fletcher, 2014). With regard to studies (few, to the best of our knowledge) on the anthropometric measurements of swimmers' hands and their possible influence on sports performance, the findings are contradictory. Sammound et al. (2018a), observed that there is no significant statistical correlation between hand length alone and swimming performance. In contrast, the relationship between hand length and other anthropometric measures appears to positively influence sports performance (Sammoud et al., 2018, 2019). The anthropometric data from the Italian sample suggest that other anthropometric measures of the hand, in addition to length and width, and their relationships could be correlated with sports performance. Furthermore, the interaction between the aforementioned anthropometric parameters could play an important role in favoring better sports performance. Further anthropometric data of the hand and studies correlating it with sports performance may support or disprove these hypotheses.

Table II Anthropometric measurements of the hand in human populations. 

^{*Numbers 1-7: anthropometric hand measures (see Fig. 1)}.

CONCLUSION

The study makes available the anthropometric hand data of Italian elite male swimmers, who are part of national teams. The data may contribute to the creation of a database of anthropometric hand measurements of elite swimmers to be used for subsequent studies. The observations and results of this study will benefit all those who wish to learn more about an important propulsion factor such as the hands in the swimming environment.