CORRELATION OF ANTHROPOMETRIC INDICATORS AND MUSCULOSKELETAL FITNESS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN

Handgrip strength and standing long jump are two of the health-related fitness indicators that measure musculoskeletal fitness. The more active children will perform better in the physical fitness assessment. However, the nutritional status also determines health conditions. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between anthropometric indicators and musculoskeletal fitness among elementary school age children. This study included 50 children (23 boys and 27 girls), between the ages of 7-11 years, recruited from an elementary school in Medan, Indonesia. The nutritional data that were measured are weight, height, body mass index, waist circumference, waist to height ratio, fat percentage, biceps, triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness. The anthropometric indicators that are strongly determinant factors for handgrip strength are age, weight, BMI, fat percentage, biceps, and triceps skinfold thickness. Meanwhile, for the standing long jump the indicators are gender, BMI and subscapular skinfold.