Prevalence of Forward Head Posture and its Effect on Active Mouth Opening in Young Female Weightlifters

Background: To objectively assess the prevalence of forward head posture and its effect on active mouth opening. Material & Methods: Correlational study design. Setting – Subjects were selected from various gyms and fitness centers located in South Delhi. Subjects were selected for the study according to the following inclusion and exclusion criteria. Method of Sampling- Sample of convenience. Instrumentation / Tools/ Scales/ Outcome Measure- Markers, UTHSCSA Software version 3.0, Calibrated Ruler, Digi Cam; 16 Mega Pixel with stand, Laptop, Liquid Disinfectant, Calibrated Ruler to measure active mouth opening. Craniovertebral angle was measured using UTHSCSA Image tool program. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 20.0 version software. Descriptive statistics was used to compute means. The Pearson’s coefficient of correlation was used to examine the relationships between craniovertebral angle and active mouth opening. Results were considered significant at ‘p’ < 0.05. Results: The purpose of conducting this study was to find out the effect on active mouth opening in female weightlifters which was conducted on females performing weight lifting task in the gyms and fitness centers situated in South Delhi. It was observed that there was a statistically significant correlation with CV angle with active mouth opening. Conclusion: By the virtue of this study, we can conclude that our participant group of weightlifters had a below normal craniovertebral angle. The result demonstrated that there is a significant effect on active mouth opening.