A STUDY ON THE COMBINED EFFECT OF OBESITY AND LOAD CARRIAGE ON PLANTAR PRESSURE PATTERNS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

摘要

From childhood, children are required daily to carry a load (necessary to perform their regular schoolactivities) that is often beyond the limits established for adult workers. While some critical issues related topossible negative consequences in terms of postural alterations and onset of musculoskeletal diseases arewell known and investigated, little information is available for the population of overweight and obesechildren, which appears to increase year after year. As their bodies are physiologically subject to a certaindegree of overload, the addition of a supplemental load may induce further stress, the effects of whichshould be carefully evaluated. This study focuses on the foot-ground relationship, with special attention onplantar pressure distribution. The primary goal is to assess whether or not backpack presence alters indifferent ways the physiological pressure patterns in obese subjects compared with normal ones. To thisend, 45 obese and overweight children (6-10 years old) and an equal sample of non-obese schoolmatesmatched for gender, age and height, were tested with a pressure platform to acquire the plantar pressuredistribution in absence and presence of a backpack. Results show that the carried load induces similarincreases in both groups, even though a significant shift of the center of pressure in presence of a backpackwas found for obese female subjects. The very high pressure peaks observed in the obese populationsuggest that further studies are required to evaluate specific issues of the musculoskeletal system related tothe combination of load carriage and obesity.