Background and Aim: Status abnormalities are adverse changes which can cause deformity in the skeletal structure and the natural direction of the posture. Obesity is among the causes of status abnormalities. The important issue is the distribution of additional fat in the body. The aim of this study was to compare muscle and skeletal abnormalities between the students with apple-shaped and pear-shaped obesity.

Material and Methods: Study population included all male high-school students in Sanandaj. 79 students were selected by purposeful cluster sampling and divided into three groups: apple-shaped obesity (n=21), pear-shaped obesity (n=23), and normal weight (n=34).In order to assess abnormalities, we used photography for forward head and forward shoulder, flexible ruler for kyphosis and lordosis, caliper for genu valgum and genovarum, and navicular drop test for flatfoot. Using SPSS22 software, data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). P < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: We found significant differences between every two groups in regard to different abnormalities as following: forward head (P ≤ 0.012) and forward shoulder (P ≤ 0.001) between normal and apple-shaped obesity groups, lordosis  between apple-shaped and pear-shaped obesity groups (P ≤ 0.047), and also between normal and apple-shaped obesity groups (P ≤ 0.046), genovarum (P ≤ 0.0001) between normal and pear-shaped obesity groups and also between normal and apple-shaped obesity groups (P ≤ 0.0001); flatfoot (P ≤ 0.0001) between normal and pear-shaped obesity groups (P ≤ 0.0001) and also between apple-shaped and normal groups (P ≤ 0.0001).

Conclusion: Apple and pear-shaped obesity have different effects on the stature structure and rate of complications. We recommend corrective exercise training programs and weight control in obese subjects according to the type of obesity.

Keywords: Obesity, Apple-shaped obesity, Pear-shaped obesity, Fat distribution, Musculoskeletal abnormalities.

Received: Jul 4, 2016      Accepted: Oct 29, 2016