American Football Sets Players' Body Mass Index.

¹University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA.

|July 18, 2018

Summary

American football player body mass indexes (BMI) are similar across positions, but high school players, especially linemen, show higher BMIs. Setting a BMI upper limit of 30 for high school football is proposed for safety.

Area of Science:

Sports Medicine
Public Health
Anthropometry

Background:

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a key health indicator, with varying optimal ranges across populations and athletic contexts.
Understanding BMI distribution in American football players is crucial for assessing health risks and ensuring athlete safety.
Previous research has not comprehensively compared BMI across different levels of American football (high school vs. professional) and player positions.

Purpose of the Study:

To document and compare mean Body Mass Index (BMI) for player positions in public high school (PHS) and National Football League (NFL) American football teams.
To analyze BMI differences between Lean State (LS) and Heavy State (FS) public high schools and within the NFL.
To review health risks associated with BMI in athletes and propose safety guidelines for high school football.

Main Methods:

Utilized publicly accessible 2014-2015 football rosters from four PHS teams (two LS, two FS) and 32 NFL teams.
Calculated individual player BMI based on height and weight data.
Compared mean BMI for three male player positions: quarterback (Q), backfield (B), and line (L) players.

Main Results:

Mean BMI did not significantly differ between Lean State (LS) and Heavy State (FS) public high schools or between PHS and NFL teams for specific positions.
A significant difference (P < .01) in mean BMI was observed between line (L) players compared to quarterback (Q) and backfield (B) players across all levels.
Public high school (PHS) football players, particularly linemen, exhibited BMIs in a range considered obese by general standards but healthy for NFL players.

Conclusions:

American football establishes similar BMI distributions for player positions, irrespective of regional weight trends or league (PHS vs. NFL).
PHS football linemen are prone to BMIs considered obese, highlighting a potential public health and sports safety concern.
A proposed upper BMI limit of 30 for PHS football players is recommended to align with public health and sports safety objectives.

Keywords:

American Football BMI adolescent obesity body mass index exertional heat illness high school sports

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American Football Sets Players' Body Mass Index.

Area of Science:

Background:

Purpose of the Study:

Main Methods:

Main Results:

Conclusions:

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