Abstract
Despite the increasing popularity and competitiveness of artistic swimming, female athletes in this sport remain understudied. PURPOSE: The objective of this study is to examine the physiological changes experienced by female collegiate artistic swimmers throughout a competition season, from pre-season to late-season. Since artistic swimming lacks mechanical stress and involves reduced gravitational forces due to water immersion, there is concern of reduced bone mineral density (BMD) over time. Decreased calorie intake whilst increasing practice session duration can cause menstrual cycle irregularity, which may also negatively affect BMD and the health of female athletes. By offering detailed insights into the physiological adaptations of female collegiate artistic swimmers, this research seeks to address a significant gap in the existing literature. METHODS: Twelve collegiate artistic swimmers age 20.5±1.5 years, height 168.1±8.2 cm, weight 65.0±8.9 kg, and BMI 23.0±3.2 kg/m2 have completed five months of data collection. Various parameters were assessed every four weeks over five months including height, weight, body composition using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) (bone mineral density [BMD], bone mineral content [BMC], fat mass [FM], lean body mass [LBM], and percentage of body fat [BF]), and resting metabolic rate (RMR). RESULTS: A one-way Repeated measures ANOVA was used to assess each physiological measure. RMR per kg of LBM had a significant effect (p=.016, η 2=.281). There was no significant effect in BMC over the five-month period (p=>.05, η 2=.104); there were significant time differences in BMD (p=
Recommended Citation
Latchford, Ashley M.; Lambright, Kelsi; Sopher, Colton; and Newmire, Dan E.
(2025)
"Preliminary Analysis of Physiological Changes in Collegiate Artistic Swimmers During Competition Season: A Prospective Study,"
International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 2:
Iss.
17, Article 52.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol2/iss17/52
