The purpose of the present study was to search the correlations of neck disability index with selected anthropometric and neck biomechanical variables in Indian obese adolescents aged 12-18 years. To solve this problem, three anthropometric variables viz. height, weight and BMI, one body composition component, viz. percent body fat, six neck biomechanical variables, viz. neck range flexion, neck range extension, neck right side flexion, neck left side flexion neck right side rotation and neck left side rotation were measured and neck disability index was estimated on randomly selected 108 Indian obese adolescents (56 boy and 52 girl) aged 12–18 years from two schools of Ludhiana, Punjab, India. An adequate number of non-obese controls (n = 113, 59 boys and 54 girls) were also taken from the same schools for comparisons. In result, one way analysis of variance showed statistically significant between-group differences (p<0.008 - 0.001) in all the variables studied, except, neck right side flexion, neck right and left side rotation among obese and non-obese boys and girls. In obese boys, significant positive correlations (p < 0.05) of neck disability index were found with neck right and left side flexion, and significant negative correlations (p < 0.05 – 0.001) with height and weight, whereas in obese girls, significant negative correlations (p < 0.05 – 0.001) were found with height, BMI, neck right flexion and extension. In conclusion, it may be stated that though neck disability index had some correlations (p< 0.001) with almost all the variables studied, no marked effects of obesity was reported on neck disability index in Indian obese adolescents.
