Does weight loss affect the center of pressure of children with obesity: a follow-up study

Background

Children with obesity were found to show the greater postural instability compared to the normal-weighted children. However, it’s still unclear if their altered postural control ability would recover towards normal pattern after weight loss. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of weight loss on the center of pressure (COP) for obese children.

Method

Totally 147 children were conducted a follow-up study in three years. A total number of 22 participants aged 7–13 years were recruited for their remission of obesity problem after 36 months. Their dynamic plantar pressure data were collected by Footscan pressure plate. The normalized time of four sub-phases, displacements and velocities of COP in anterior–posterior (AP) and medial–lateral (ML) directions were calculated to perform the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and paired sample t test for statistical analyses.

Results

After weight loss, children’s normalized time of forefoot contact phase (FFCP) increased significantly, and their duration of flat foot phase (FFP) decreased significantly. They also exhibited the more medial and posterior orientated COP path after weight loss. In ML-direction, the COP displacement during FFP and FFPOP increased, and the COP velocity during FFPOP increased. In AP-direction, COP velocity during FFP and FFPOP increased.

Conclusions

The findings indicated that weight loss would have effects on the COP characteristics and postural stability for obese children. COP trajectory can provide essential information for evaluating foot function. The findings may be useful for obese children, medical staff, and healthcare physician.

Graphical Abstract