Effects of body mass index on plantar pressure and balance.
Se-Won Yoon, Woong-Sik Park, Jeong-Woo Lee
PMID 27942127WHAT IT FOUND
In 20 women, plantar pressure and standing balance did not differ clearly between normal and obesity BMI groups.
Some sensor areas differed from others, but BMI alone was not enough to separate the groups.
Key findings
01Static forefoot peak pressure was 139.7 ± 23.8 kg/cm2 in the normal BMI group and 138.1 ± 21.4 kg/cm2 in the obesity BMI group, with no significant group difference.
02Static hindfoot peak pressure was 164.1 ± 11.9 kg/cm2 in the normal BMI group and 152.3 ± 22.8 kg/cm2 in the obesity BMI group, with no significant group difference.
03On stable and unstable surfaces, the spontaneity balance index differed between sensor areas but not between the normal and obesity BMI groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Small sample size: only 20 female volunteers were studied. The participants were healthy women without gait disorders, foot pain, foot deformity, or foot diseases, so the findings may not apply to patients with foot problems. The study compared two BMI groups and reported several pressure and balance comparisons, but it does not show a clear BMI-related difference in the measured outcomes. The paper does not describe blinding of assessors or participants to group status.
Declared interests
No funding source or conflict-of-interest declaration is provided in the supplied text. The study was approved by K Women’s University, and all subjects signed informed consent.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that higher BMI causes worse plantar pressure or balance. In these 20 women, the obesity BMI group did not differ significantly from the normal BMI group on the measured pressure or balance outcomes.