Correlation between Body Mass Index and Core Muscular Strength among School Children between 11 and 14 Years of Age: A Cross Sectional Study Milton J Andrews1,*, Martina A Turin2 1Professor, Bethany Navajeevan College of Physiotherapy, Thiruvananthapuram 2Associate Professor, PG & Research Department of Rehabilitation Science, Holy Cross College, Tiruchirappalli *Corresponding author: J. Andrews Milton, Professor, Bethany Navajeevan College of Physiotherapy, Bethany Hills, Mar Ivanios Vidya Nagar, Thiruvananthapuram-695015, Email: therapistandrews@gmail.com, M: 8547489838
Online published on 11 July, 2019. Abstract Background Childhood obesity is a major health challenge of our country. The children of the present generation lives a passive lifestyle that leads to childhood obesity and adverse health consequences. Core muscle strength plays a major role in the physical fitness including maintaining the stability and balance of the human body during functional activities. Objective The objective of the study is to find out the association between Body Mass Index and core muscular strength among the school going children between 11 and 14 years of age by measuring the plank time Materials and Method 100 school children between 11 and 14 years from the schools in thiruvananthapuram city were included in the study using simple random sampling method. Body Mass Index has been calculated for all the students. They were divided into three BMI categories. i.e., Normal weight, Overweight and Obese. Plank test was conducted on them to measure the core muscular strength. Result The result was analyzed using SPSS software version 16. The statistical tool used was Pearson correlation. The Pearson correlation for Body Mass Index and Plank time was -.957, P value was.000 which shows that there is a significant correlation at 0.01 level between Body Mass Index and plank time. Also the value shows that the correlation is negative, i.e., as the Body Mass Index increases the plank time i.e., the core muscular strength decreases and vice versa. Conclusion The study concludes that there is a negative correlation between Body Mass Index and core muscular strength i.e., as the Body Mass Index increases the core muscular strength decreases and vice versa in children aged between 11 and 14 years old. Top Keywords Core muscular strength, Childhood Obesity, Body Mass Index percentile, Plank. Top |