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Summary: A separate moire photograph of 380 men's back was taken. Using a micro-computer the sagittal configuration of the spinal curvature line was reconstructed based on the moire fringe on the back. Then the sagittal configuration of this line was compared among groups according to their sports: rugby, soccer, kendo, swimming, yachting, four track and field events (sprinting, distance running, jumping, and throwing), body-building as well as non-athletic men.Distance runners and sprinters had a greater degree of thoracic kyphosis and greater degree of lumbar lordosis, while non-athletes had a smaller degree of both kyphosis and lordosis. Swimmers, bodybuilders, rugby and soccer players had partial lordosis. The degree of lumbar lordosis of swimmers and bodybuilders was less than average while the degree of thoracic kyphosis was ordinary and the degree of thoracic kyphosis of rugby and soccer players was less than average while the degree of lumbar lordosis was ordinary.

Longitudinal secular changes of height and estimated leg length (ELL) or subischial leg length of Japanese boys and girls were investigated using data published in “The Statistical Report of the School Health Survey” of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan. A significant trend towards greater relative leg length (long‐leggedness) among Japanese children and youth has occurred during the period of about four decades covered by this study. After showing a strikingly consistent trend at all age levels between 6 and 17 years and a dramatic trend during the birth‐year age period 1943–1963, the relative growth in leg length has been rapidly slowing or has stopped in both sexes. The relative growth of ELL seemed to be fixed after 11 years in boys and 9 years in girls. Maximum increment ages (MIA), both in height and ELL, were used as estimates of the timing of maximum growth during the adolescent spurt. Regression analysis was used to demonstrate the overall trend patterns of MIA in height and ELL. After removing autocorrelation effects, MIA for height is accelerated by 0.03 year in both sexes, while the MIA in ELL is accelerated by 0.03 year in boys and 0.01 year in girls. Thus, MIA in ELL in girls is occurring earlier but to a smaller extent than in boys. The average maturity difference between boys and girls is 2.07 years in height, but 2.83 years in lower extremity length. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 12:405–416, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

A method is presented for the numerical analysis of sex differences in size and shape of the proximal humeral outlines using elliptical Fourier functions (EFFs). A skeletal sample consisting of right and left humeri pairs of 69 individuals, 36 males and 33 females, was used. The proximal superior view in the plane of the proximo-distal axis of each humerus was photographed and then 54 boundary points were located on the two-dimensional outline tracings. These points were digitized and used to compute EFFs with 27 harmonics. From the EFFs, a set of expected points on the proximal humeral outline was generated using the centroid as an origin. Superimposition of the male and female outlines on this centroid provided a detailed picture of the relative sex differences in size and shape with respect to that center. The bounded area of the proximal humeral outline showed statistically significant sex differences. Additionally, statistical results of the amplitudes derived from the “area-standardized” EFFs and visual assessments of the mean outline plots indicated significant sex differences in shape of the proximal humeral outlines. Focusing on localized regional differences, the greater tubercle was located more postero-medially and the lesser tubercle was located more anteriorly in the males compared to the females. Sex determinations from the proximal humeri were also examined with discriminant functions based on the amplitudes, which represent shape characteristics of the outline, and the bounded area. Using a cross-validation method, predictions of the percentages of cases correctly classified with the discriminant functions were ranged from 92.8% to 95.7% for the right and left humeral data. These results suggest that differences in size and shape of the proximal humeral outlines may be better predictors of sex when compared with conventional measurements of the humerus.