Relación de la actividad física y de la composición corporal con el control postural

Resumen

INTRODUCTION Equilibrium is crucial for the performance of diary life activities such as standing and walking. The capacity of controlling our body comes from a complex interaction of the skeleton-muscular and neural systems (known as a whole as “postural control system”). Any problem, factor or illness that may affect the proper performance of this postural control system will provoke postural and equilibrium alterations. Physical activity and body composition are among the amendable factors that influence in the equilibrium; however, their connections with the postural control system are not absolutely clear. Previous researches state that an active way of life improves the postural control but they have not taken into account the possible influence of the body composition and its distribution of the individuals in the mechanisms in charge of maintaining the equilibrium. Several studies have indicated the relation of the anthropometric variables and the body composition and its distribution in the postural control but there are discrepancies on which of them has more influence, thus it is interesting to carry on an assessment of them. Moreover, most of the studies have not taken into account the physical activity of the individuals, and this may have an influence in the results. It is important to assess the relation between the physical activity and the body composition with the postural control to develop health improvement programs, mostly in sedentary individuals or either with obesity or overweighed. OBJECTIVES Analyze the influence of the body composition with the postural control in sedentary adult males. Analyze the influence of the physical activity in the postural control in obese and overweighed adult males. Describe the relations of the anthropometric variables, physical activity level, body composition and distribution with the postural control in male adults and determine which of them has more influence. RESULTS Sedentary individuals of our research that have more abdominal fat mass percentage get lower equilibrium scores at somatosensory level than those sedentary individuals with a lower percentage (95.83 ± 1.69 vs 97.00 ± 2.61). Obese individuals of our study with a higher body total fat mass percentage, when they are not sedentary, obtain better scores in equilibrium at proprioceptive level than those sedentary (96.91 ± 1.76 vs 95.40 ± 1.17). The level of physical activity and most of the anthropometric and body composition variables are related with the scores obtained in postural control by the adult males of our study, being the waist perimeter the variable that mostly predicts the results at proprioceptive level (15.5%), thus the bigger the waist perimeter the worse the capacity of the somatosensory system to maintain equilibrium. CONCLUSIONS Accumulation of abdominal fat mass seems to affect the somatosensory system that contributes to the maintenance of the postural stability in sedentary male individuals. Physical activity seems to improve equilibrium at proprioceptive level, mostly in adult males with a high total fat mass percentage. Both physical activity and body composition seem to have influence in the postural control, especially at somatosensory level.