Effect of Underwater Treadmill Training on Young Obese Adults

Abstract

Background: Obesity, a chronic disease, is becoming a global public health issues now a days. There are various different proven approaches for weight reduction but carry adverse effects. So people prefer more of exercise training which has permanent impact on body. Despite proven health benefits of aerobic exercise training, traditional modes such land walking and running are associated with increased risk of musculoskeletal injuries due to increase joint compressive forces.On the contrary, the Aquatherapy has an advantage in form of buoyancy which reduces these joint compressive forces thereby providing relative weightlessness and joint unloading.

Objectives: To analyze the effect of underwater treadmill training on anthropometric measures, core strength and endurance and balance in young obese male individuals.

Materials and methods: In this study 14 young obese male individuals(18-35years of age) were included. BMI, Waist Circumference, Functional reach test, 1-min sit ups, Percent body fat were taken as outcomes before starting the training. The underwater treadmill training was given for 6 weeks, 3 days per week, each session lasting for 25mins; At the end of 6th week, post readings were recorded.

Results: There was significant difference observed amongst all the parameters i.e BMI (p>0.001), FRT (p>0.001), Waist Girth (p>0.001), 1min sit ups (p>0.002) and percent body fat (p>0.003).

Conclusion: This study shows that Hudson Aquaciser III(underwater treadmill) is an effective method to reduce anthropometric measures like BMI, Waist girth, improve core strength, endurance and balance.