Bow leg deformity among school students of Chandigarh: A comparative study

Abstract

Objective: The study aimed to compare the prevalence of bow leg deformity among male school students of private, government model, and government schools in slum areas of Chandigarh. Materials & Methods: Non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to select nine hundred (N=900) male students. Among the selected subjects, 300 each were from private, government model, and government schools in slum areas of Chandigarh. The age of the subjects ranged from 11 to 15 years. A sliding caliper was used to measure the inter-condylar distance (bowlegs). Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The level of significance was set at 0.05 level. Results: The result of the study revealed that 2.4% of the students in the schools of Chandigarh suffered from bow leg deformity. Private schools had the highest percentage of students (5.3%) with bowleg deformity. They were followed by the government schools in slum areas with bowleg deformity among 1.7% of students and government model schools with bow leg deformity among 0.3% of students. The intercondylar distance among the male students in private schools was significantly higher as compared to students of government model students.