Effect of agility training exercise on motor proficiency and anthropometry in 6–10-year-old children with obesity

Background: Increased body weight, termed as Obesity, has emerged as one of the major problems in children in recent times. These children are also prone to have lower physical activity/ physical fitness levels. They are also known to have poor motor proficiency during development as well as later life if obesity continues. Early intervention is necessary to promote healthy life style & improve fitness. This study was, therefore, undertaken to determine the effect of agility training exercise on motor proficiency & anthropometry in 6 to 10 year old obese school children. Materials and Methods: Twenty children with BMI ≥25 as per Asian criteria were recruited for this pre-post experimental study from randomly selected schools. Demographic profile of the children was collected & an assessment of their skin fold thickness (triceps, abdomen & thigh), lower extremity strength (quadriceps, hamstrings, hip extensors, hip abductors and dorsiflexors), agility (modified T test) and motor proficiency (Test of Gross Motor Development-3) was performed prior to & at the end of 2nd and 4th week of training. Agility training exercises were administered to all children three times a week for 4 weeks. Results: Statistically significant changes from pre to post 4 weeks intervention were noted in most of the outcome measures, most notably motor proficiency (both locomotor & object control components; P = 0.0001), body weight (P = 0.0004), triceps skin fold thickness (P = 0.0033), strength of hip extensors (P = 0.0002) and agility (P = 0.0003). Conclusion: A school based 4 week agility training program of low to moderate intensity (contextual interference) has shown to be effective in improving motor proficiency & also altering anthropometric parameters in obese children aged 6-10 years.