Association of age, BMI and physical activity with the risk of musculoskeletal injuries among school going children

Abstract

Background: Understanding the factors that predict risk of musculoskeletal injuries among school going children is necessary for developing timely intervention before accidents occur.

Objective: To analyse the relationship between age, BMI, physical activity and MSK injuries among school going children.

Methodology: A cross sectional analytical study was carried out on children of schools of Islamabad and Rawalpindi having sample size n=127. Male students of age between 8-12 years were included in the study. Data was collected including age, BMI and physical activity level on Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C) and risk of injury with Functional Movement Screen (FMS). Data was analysed using Hierarchical Regression Analysis.

Result: A multiple regression results showed that variables were statistically non-significant and showed low explanatory power. F(9, 90)=0.936, p=0.497. in model 1 Age and BMI explain 3.7% of total variance in injury risk. And in model 2 adding physical activity increased the variance to 6.7%.

Conclusion: Only considering how old, what sex or what BMI a school-age child has does not accurately show injury risk. It did not appear that exercise was greatly protective, even though obesity seemed to lower the chance of muscle and bone injuries. Therefore, it appears that factors such as what exercise is done, someone’s general health and the environment are more important in predicting injury risk.