Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Athletic Training

First Advisor

Christopher Ingersoll

Second Advisor

J. Patrick Babington

Third Advisor

Jeffrey Edwards

Abstract

Objective: To determine the reliability and validity of the measurements taken by skin fold testers on Indiana High School wrestlers. Design and Setting: A 2 x 3 x 3 repeated measures design was used for this study. Three independent variables were evaluated. The first independent variable was Body Composition technique (skin fold and hydrostatic weighing), the second is Tester (1 thru 3) and the third is Trial (1 thru 3). The one dependent variable was Body Fat Percentage. Subjects: Three Indiana certified skin fold measurers were recruited to be testers for this study. Twelve male high school wrestlers (age: 16.1±0.9, mass: 73.7±15.5Kg, ht: 174.3±7.4 em) were used as subjects'. Measurements: The testers took skin fold measurements at the subjects subscapular, triceps, and abdominal locations. The subscapular measurement is a diagonal fold taken at the 1 to 2 em below the inferior angle of the scapula. The triceps fold is a vertical fold taken on the posterior midline of the upper arm halfway between the acromion and olecranon processes, with the arm held freely at the side of the body. The Abdominal fold is a vertical fold 2 em to the right side of the umbilicus. Skin fold measurements were calculated SUM SF= TRICEPS SF+ SUBSCAPULAR SF- ABDOMINAL SF. Body density was calculated using Lohmans equation. Body fat percentage was calculated using the Brozek equations. The subjects were measured for height and weight and entered the pool. Measurements were taken to determine their underwater weight in kilograms. The average of 6 trials was used as the final underwater weight in v the composition equation. Residual lung volume was estimated using the Goldman formula for males. The residual Lung volume was then used to determine the body density. Percent body fat was estimated using the Brozek equation. Results: Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC 3,1) for sessions of data collection for skin fold regions were high with a range of ICC(3,1) = .97 ±1.755 to .99 ±1.027 for abdominal measurements, ICC = .98 ±1.537 to .99 ±0.817 for subscapular measurements, and ICC = .73 ±2.034 to .99 ±0.817 to for triceps measurements. ICC's between testers for abdomen, subscapular, and triceps showed similar correlations with ICC = .93± 3.986, ICC= .98 ± 1.591, and ICC= .91 ± 1.868, respectively. Within tester reliability was calculated ICC= .99 and ICC .97 ± 1.462 between testers. When compared to hydrostatic weighing ICC and SEM values for testers 1-3 were .93 ±2.154, .85 ± 2.756, and .92 ± 2.034 respectively. Conclusions: The use of skin fold measurements to make estimations on body composition has been shown to be a reliable and valid method for determining body fat percentage in Indiana High School Wrestlers. However, the individual data analysis suggests that the values are so variant that 25 % of the estimated body composition values recommend weight loss goals that could possibly put the athlete at high risk (below 3 %) for a variety of health problems. For example, if a wrestler weighed 190 lbs. (85 kg) and was measured at 15% body fat by skinfold measurement at 7% he would weigh 174.8 lbs.(77.7 kg.) However if the athlete is actually found to be 8.75% body fat by hydrostatic weighing methods the athletes' weight loss of an addition 15.2 lbs would actually decrease his body fat percentage to 0.13%. This was the case in one of our vi subjects (tester 2 subject 8) and when we followed these same checks, all 3 testers in this study made errors in their measurements that would cause 25% of the wrestlers to lose weight that would place them in the less than 3% body fat range.

Download

Share

COinS