Correlation between Balance and BMI in Collegiate students: A cross sectional study

Background: Balance deficits are usually related to medial-lateral instability. BMI could be an important factor to consider as; excess body mass or increased accumulation of adipose tissue can directly impact the postural stability which in return impacts balance. Purpose of the study: To find the correlation between BMI and Balance. Method: Sample consisted of 149 students, out of which 100 (67%) were males and 49 (33%) were females. BMI was calculated and was categorized into groups. Bilateral limb length was measured for normalising the data. Static balance was measured by performing blinded stork test and dynamic balance by performing Y- balance test. Data was analysed using Pearson’s correlation test. Result: There was significant correlation between BMI and static balance of left leg (r=0.713, 95% CI 0.623, 0.784, p=0.01) but on comparison, there was no significant correlation between BMI and static balance of right leg (r=0.0458, 95% CI -0.11, -0.205, p=0.58). It was found that there was no significant correlation between BMI and Left Anterior (r= -0.134, 95% CI -0.289, -0.0274, p= 0.103), Left Posterolateral (r=-0.0775, 95% CI -0.235, 0.0843, p=0.347), Left Posteromedial (r=-0.0903, 95% CI -0.248, -0.0715, p=0.273) respectively. Also, it was found that there was no significant correlation between BMI and Right Anterior (r=-0.236, 95% CI -0.382, -0.0778, p=0.00381), Right Posterolateral (r=-0.193, 95% CI -0.343,-0.0334, p=0.0183), Right Posteromedial (r=-0.126, 95% CI -0.281, -0.0354, p=0.125) respectively. Conclusion: There was significant correlation between BMI and static balance of left leg and no correlation was established between BMI and static balance on right leg and also no correlation was established between BMI and static and dynamic balance for right and left leg. KEY WORDS: Static balance, Dynamic balance, Body Mass Index, Obesity, Limb length.