Relation of BMI with Balance and Functional Mobility in College Students
Background: Overweight and obesity has been seen as a rising problem in India and around the world commonly in school and college going students at a very young age. The objective of the study is to find the relation of body mass index with balance and functional mobility and to enable the associated professionals to know better the consequences that can be caused by increase in the weight of an individual. Methods: A total of 100 subjects (65 females and 35 males) were randomly recruited based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were divided into 3 groups on the basis of their MI as underweight, normal and overweight. Unilateral leg stand, tandem stand, sit to stand and timed up and go tests were assessed for each participant and the values were recorded. Results: Results show that increase in weight has a positive relation with poor balance and functional mobility in college students. Individuals falling under underweight and normal BMI showed good test results that indicated good balance and mobility than compared to overweight individuals who had poorer results. Conclusion: Increase in body mass index has a positive effect on balance and functional mobility as the population falling under overweight BMI had poorer values for balance and mobility tests as compared to the individuals who had underweight and normal BMI. KEY WORDS: BMI, Balance, Functional mobility, College students.