ANALYSIS OF AGE CHANGES IN FLEXIBILITY OF MALE ADOLESCENTS OF KARNATAKA

Mr.  Udaya Kumar and Dr. Chandrappa N.

 ABSTRACT

The advent of technology in day to day life has considerably reduced physical activity levels of individuals. Physical education is being substituted by academic endeavors and other similar accomplishments of adolescents. Health related physical fitness has to be given prime importance during adolescence for enhancement of productivity of individual in later adulthood. Flexibility is a health related component of physical fitness that relates to the range of motion available at a joint.            The purpose of the present investigation was to determine the age changes associated with flexibility in male high school students. The subjects for the study were 950 adolescents studying in various schools of Karnataka state. The subjects were selected from various age groups like 13 to 14 years (N=303); 15 to 16 years (N=323); and 17 to 18 years (N=324). Modified sit and reach test (Meredith and Welk, 2007) was performed by the subjects to measure the flexibility. The obtained results were statistically treated using descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviation. Further, Analysis of variance was performed with LSD post hoc test to find age differences in flexibility. The present investigation on flexibility of high school male students of Karnataka reveals that there is an improvement in flexibility as age advances. The flexibility is lowest in 13 to 14 years and the highest in 17 to 18 years.

Keywords: High School, Adolescents, Health, Physical Fitness, Flexibility, Injury Risk.