Study aim: To study knock knee deformity and the body mass index among male school students of Chandigarh, India. The study also intended to evaluate the association of knock knee deformity with BMI.
Material and method: In total, 900 school students were selected, and out of these 300 each were from private, government model and government schools in slum areas. Convenient sampling was employed. The age of the subjects ranged from 9 to 13 years. Height, weight, BMI and intermalleolar distance of selected subjects were assessed. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA and correlation were employed.
Results: The highest percentages of obese (11.3%) and overweight (15.3%) students were found in the private schools. The highest percentages of severe knock knee deformity (10.7%) were found in the students of the private schools, whereas 16.7% of students in the government model schools had moderate knock knee deformity. Height, weight and BMI were significantly correlated with knock knee deformity.
Conclusion: Body weight among the school students might be associated with the school type, as the problem of obesity and underweight was pervasive in private and government schools. Knock knee deformity was related to the school type and body weight status.