Is there a relationship between body mass index and postural deviations in overweight and obese powerlifting athletes?

Postural deviations are one of the musculoskeletal disorders. It seems that some exercises and body mass index could affect postural conditions. Therefore, the purposes of the present study was to determine and compare the postural deviations in obese and overweight powerlifting athletes.

The male powerlifting athletes aged 18 to 35 years old entered to one of two groups based on their body mass index, 25 athletes for obese group (BMI: ≥ 30) and 50 athletes for overweight group (BMI: 25-29.9). The Sagittal and Frontal planes were photographed using a plumb line and a symmetrograph®, and then deviations of the postural key points were investigated on the images.

Athletes in both groups only had normal posture in the head, cervical and lumbar vertebral levels in the frontal plane, and also the deviations in obese athletes in the sagittal plane at the level of the thoracic vertebral (P=0.008), and in the frontal plane at the level of the leg (P=0.019) and the scapula (P=0.029) were significantly lower than those of overweight athletes.

It is demonstrated that Postural deviations in powerlifting athletes with higher body mass index were lower in some levels. Interestingly, it seems that, the obese athletes may be protected against the injurious forces due to the greater muscle mass.